On These Magic Shores

On These Magic Shores

On These Magic Shores
October 28, 2025 7:30 pm
Tamsyn Warde

Tamsyn is a documentary photographer who had two of her projects shortlisted for this year’s Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize at The National Portrait Gallery; she was also the winner of the Royal Photographic Societies’ student Documentary Group competition in 2024 with her project ‘On These Magic Shores’ – which she will talk about in this presentation.

Most of us have memories of the games that we played as children. You will often hear the romantic recall of days gone by when children played freely in the street. This is reflected in the images made during the 20th century featuring children playing outdoors in a time before digital gaming and modern aspirations.

The British Children’s play Survey (2021) surmises that 75% of children’s play takes place inside their own homes and gardens (if you have one) and recent research From Play England (2024) highlights a decline in doorstep play from previous generations.

Children are less likely to engage in play unsupervised by adults and to be given the freedom of outdoor spaces in their communities. Childhood has been changing since the early 2010’s and Play England warn against today’s children becoming the first generation to have a phone-based childhood instead of a play-based one.

On These Magic Shores is a project exploring the spaces in which children play in the UK. The project looks at how and where children are playing, and where play belongs in their lives. I’m interested in spontaneous play which is child-led and sparked by their own imaginations and interests. This kind of play evolves naturally when children have the opportunity. This requires time that is not dictated by an adult timetable and freedom of an appropriate space close to home.

Tamsyn has recently completed her Masters degree in photography at Falmouth University.