I loved playing outdoors when I was a kid. This is a photo of me from when I was 6. You gotta love the jean leisure suit:
I remember that day, exploring in the woods and wading in the river on a day trip to a neighboring town with my parents. And it was fun. But when I started looking for a photo of myself for this post, I realized that of course I don’t have photos of the hundreds of other times I played outside, because I was with my friends, and there usually were no adults around.
And that was even more fun.
There's no doubt that some of my most joyful childhood memories are of playing outdoors, when I created lots of imaginary worlds and adventures away from the watchful eyes of adults.
There have been many inspirations for Play Passages, but one of the primary ones is that since I had kids (I have two of them, they’re 8 and 5), I’ve became increasingly frustrated that it’s so difficult to give them the same freedoms and play opportunities that I had. And I don’t think it needs to be that way.
Fear in many forms seems to have trumped remembering what it felt like to really play, to take risks, to sometimes get hurt, to have a sense of wonder and possibility that wasn’t necessarily “productive”.
I found myself wondering what would happen if I started asking people to remember, what stories would come up? And if I asked them to play a little bit, take a small artistic risk, what would that process be like for people?
It’s not just about nostalgia (although of course thinking back on our childhood play can be very nostalgic). I don’t want to look at childhood play through rose-colored glasses—play is complex and it isn’t always a positive experience.
I’m just extremely curious about so many things: what are our most vivid memories of playing outside and why do we remember them? What is the relationship between how we played as children and who we became as adults? How do we stay in touch with play over the course of our lives? And how do we give those same opportunities to our children?
I’m hoping this project will spark some of those conversations. And as usual, I’m drawn to making work anchored by a sense of place. I think asking about where we played as kids might lead to some interesting discoveries. (Side note: I also had many amazing play experiences indoors of course, but it’s the outdoor play that kids seem more deprived of, so I’m focusing on that for now).
I want you to start thinking about your play memories. If you can steal some time over the weekend, take a walk by yourself and think back to your childhood. Where and how did you play? With whom? How did it feel at the time? And how does it feel to look back on it now?
I’m really excited to see where this goes.