james mollison photographs playgrounds of the world

james mollison photographs playgrounds of the world
(above) freretown community primary school, mombasa, kenya
all images courtesy of james mollison

informed by his own personal memories from childhood, james mollison set out to capture the range and diversity of these moments for children around the world. when thinking about his youth, the british photographer mainly recalled his school playground, ‘a space of excitement, games,bullying, laughing, tears, teasing, fun, and fear,’ he says. beginning by revising his own, and neighboring, schools in the UK, mollison became fascinated by the variety of experiences, depending on the type of institution and its location. ‘the contrasts between british schools made me curious to know what schools were like in other countries.’

dechen phodrang , thimphu, bhutan

‘playground’ comprises a collection of 59 photographs from across the globe. the various outdoor play areas of schools in kenya, india, venice, tel aviv, bhutan, nepal, mexico and moscow — just to mention a few — are pictured as bustling arenas, where children of different ages and outfits can be seen haggling over a ball, swinging on monkey bars and playing sports.

affiliated primary school of south china normal university, guangzhou, china

uniformed children at school in moscow are seemingly dissimilar to those running to class in the buddhist kingdom of bhutan. yet, although the atmospheres are widely diverse, mollison found the youngsters to be surprisingly alike, ‘I was struck by the similarities between children’s behavior and the games they played.’ he said.

cadet school of the heroes of space, moscow