Playgrounds

Head On Photo Festival 2013

Rainer Wöran

event-detail-person-vertical — Rainer Wöran

This event has concluded

Dates: 31 May 2013 - 12 Jun 2013

Location: Ginkgo Gallery 166 St Johns Rd Glebe NSW 2037 Australia

Hours: Tue-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10-2pm

Entry Fee: Free

Exhibition Event:

Official Opening 31/05/2013 8:00 am

The children are gone, the playgrounds remain…

The subject of Rainer Wöran’s bittersweet exhibition is children’s playgrounds. The images were taken in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily Austria, Spain and the east coast of America.

“I took these photographs when my kids were in Australia and I was waiting for my visa to come through. The absence of children in he images is a metaphor for the absence of my family at the time.”

As Wöran ventured into playgrounds with only his camera in hand he was struck by their surreal quality. Season by season, withstanding the vicissitudes of weather, the equipment of play stands in faithful service to its user. Presented as sculptures they are rusted and fading, even snowladen.

Wöran’s empty playgrounds also highlight the ebb and flow-like behaviour of generations who have seasonally inhabited these outdoor spaces. By presenting these images en masse, Wöran invites us to consider our own playgrounds: those childhood monuments tucked away in time.