Your Sunday Inspiration ✨

Beyond Print, Farah Al Qasimi, Slim Aarons ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ © Francis Alÿs, Children’s Game #38, 'Ellsakat', Azilal, Morocco, 2023 It was a week of apprehension for young students around the country as they received their GCSE results on Thursday, ahead of another school year right around the corner. In keeping, BJP turned back the clock to the playgrounds of our childhoods and headed to the Barbican for [Ricochets]( Francis Alÿs’s latest exhibition. The Belgian lens-based artist displays 28 site-specific ‘still’ lifes, each around five minutes long, documenting traditional children’s games from around the world spanning Nepal, Mexico, Hong Kong, Belgium, the UK, Afghanistan and many more. Each display, taken from his ongoing series Children’s Games, opens with an establishing shot – in Iraq, a bleating sheep and the rolling hills tell us we are on farmland, before a boy suddenly runs into the frame and jumps over the sheep, introducing ‘Leapfrog’. Children are masters of play. In complete physicality, the children of Alÿs’s animated vignettes don’t carry an inch of self consciousness. Their faces are screwed in ‘Chapitas’, in ‘Jump Rope’ their gap-toothed smiles are stretched ear-to-ear, their bodies hit and flail against each other as they run themselves entirely out of breath in ‘Kluddermor’, and beyond the point of exhaustion and into euphoria in ‘Kujunkuluka’. It’s a kind of ecstasy we all remember fondly as children; grazing our knees on hard tarmac and still rolling snowballs even when our fingers were raw, red and numb. Children even have the ability to make fun of war; in ‘Parol’, shot last year in Ukraine, adolescent boys imitate soldiers in a mimesis of violence but mired instead in innocence. In a longer video, ‘Haram Football’, a dozen Iraqi boys play the beautiful game in a sun-lit street in the recently liberated Mosul, crumbling buildings in the background. But since football was banned under ISIS, the boys lob an imaginary ball onto their makeshift pitch, each of them participating in the theatrical display to equally convincing degrees. One runs and tackles the imagined ball, skidding across the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. Others jump in unison to header it. It is at once a remarkably humorous yet devastating testament to ‘children’s creative resilience in conflict zones’. Ricochets is a reminder and invitation to play everywhere, no matter the season or the environment. Even a crack in the pavement is a game, as ‘Step on a Crack’ shot in Hong Kong depicts. The exhibition continues in the upstairs galleries with paintings of games throughout the ages, and explanations of the oldest recorded games from Mesopotamia, China and India. In London, three local schools have participated in new films connecting the immediate Barbican community with the global tapestry of experiences in the Children’s Games. Elsewhere in London, The Photographers’ Gallery hosts the first iteration of [Frames of Annexation]( on 29 August. The photobook is a compilation of stills chosen collaboratively by an audience who bore witness to the Jordan Valley Activists’ video archive at [Peckham 24]( earlier this year. It shows eight years of documentation of settler violence and solidarity activism in the northern Jordan Valley, Palestine. Both the photobook and the video archive will be on display during the evening. ‘Framing is an extension of the artist’s work’: inside Beyond Print, the UK’s leading fine art framers Beyond Print co-founder Faraz Ahmad talks to Louise Long about the nitty-gritty of the framing process and the latest trends among photographers [Read more]( [Build the way you want]( Slim Aarons comes to Brighton to mark the last days of summer Welcome to the World of Slim Aarons displays some of the artist’s most iconic images documenting the life of his glittering subjects [Read more]( [Build the way you want]( Farah Al Qasimi captures the visual culture of gaming and artificial realities in the UAE The photographer grew up gaming in Abu Dhabi and has drawn on her experiences of virtual worlds and multiple cultures to create her surreal images [Read more]( [Build the way you want]( Bluecoat Press is celebrating the summer bank holiday with a special offer Until midnight on Monday 26 August, when you buy one book, you’ll get 50% off the second. Whether you’re adding to your collection or looking for the perfect gift, now’s the time to grab a great deal. This offer is available across their entire range (including print editions) – just add two books to your basket and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. Don’t wait around! The sale only lasts for three days, so make the most of it while you can. [Learn more]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [1854 Media Ltd, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Rd, Cambridge Heath, London, E2 9DA, United Kingdom Click here to update your email preferences]( [Click here to unsubscribe from all emails](