playground

• Photographer
  hang tam

Life is just a playground. The meaning of a PLAYGROUND is different for everyone. It is shaped by time, spaces and personal experiences. It exists in various forms in our lives. We use a playground as a way to relieve anxiety and feeling deep down in our minds. A playground, no matter how we try to explain it, is always the place where the emptiness in time and our souls would be filled up. Photographing a playground has 3 key elements: 1) As a new father, I often took pictures of my daughter while she was playing. When I looked at the playground in these pictures, I got a sense of Déjà vu. It made me wonder how time has passed by so heartlessly. At the same time, I could not help but worry about the future environment and society where my daughter will grow up. 2) Another part of the pictures was taken when I was by myself. Photography is a way for me to feel my own existence. Perhaps it is also the reason why I keep taking pictures for these past years. It has become the way I rediscover and transform myself, one picture at a time. 3) Back in 2002, a robbery happened when I worked as an escort. My neck was cut and my right carotid artery was bleeding heavily. Fortunately, I escaped from death, but the anxiety remains in my subconscious and in the pictures seen. The main idea behind this collection of pictures was not only about the forms of the playground, but once again to learn that life is just a PLAYGROUND.