Welcome to The Playground, Where Your Inner Child Runs Free
Edie Hopgood speaks with Alyssa Jarjoura of The Playground
From growing up an artistic child to studying in Fine Arts, what Alyssa Jarjoura will always hold, is the desire to be creative. For the Sydney-born-now-London-based founder, The Playground is a passion project born from her frustration with ‘rigid structures’ imposed on her artistry.
The ethos of The Playground is to lean in, let go and surrender to the silliness of your younger years. Whether or not you think of yourself as ‘creative’, each event welcomes you to create like the child you once were.
Beginning in Amsterdam, and moving with her to Sydney, before back to London, The Playground has grown to host sessions in a suite of locations across the world. This list has recently expanded to include Melbourne, with forthcoming events also scheduled in both Manchester and Berlin. No matter the location, Alyssa’s ultimate goal is to foster even a small sense of community within these large cities. A space where people can connect and create freely.
Edie Hopgood was lucky enough to be part of their Melbourne debut. During which, she found herself slowly surrendering to the process and, for once, drawing for drawings sake. No outcome, no rules, just pure, childlike release. Following the event, Edie and Alyssa met to discuss The Playground’s trajectory and projects to date, along with Alyssa’s bright plans for the future.
EDIE HOPGOOD What is your background? What inspired your move from Sydney to London?
ALYSSA JARJOURA So I did a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) at National Art School (NAS) in Sydney. I majored in Ceramics and basically hated it in the end. Making art became the most stressful thing I could do. There was a lot of tension between the teachers and I. They would say ‘what you’re making is wrong’, and I thought, what do you mean it’s wrong?
One day in my drawing class, I decided I was sick of teachers telling me my work was ‘wrong’ or ‘too abstract’. So I got some paper, sat my supplies around me, and started creating like I would as a kid. I let my hands take me wherever I wanted to go, and it was really hard. I didn’t do it ‘perfectly’, as in, I wasn’t completely present, because it’s so hard to be. But I just kept trying to redirect myself to be with the materials and go crazy.
This is what art making was for me as a kid. I had such confidence in creating, and I was never told that something I had made was ‘wrong’. But at art school, I felt they were only trying to make us ‘suitable’ for the art world.
Once I finished my degree, I actually went to India for about six weeks. It was quite a stressful trip. While I was there, I noticed a ticket to Paris was really cheap, so I went. I was in Paris for two weeks, and then I went to London. When I was in London I fell in love, so I stayed. I always wanted to move to London, but I thought it would be years down the line.
EH What are the origins of The Playground?
AJ There are actually a lot of elements. Obviously, my frustration with the art world, and asking myself, ‘what does art making actually mean?’ That had been on my mind for about two to three years. When I moved to London, I remember my first year being quite hard. I felt super isolated. I had friends but I struggled with the fact that most social activities revolved around drinking, or being at the pub. I wanted The Playground to be another way to strengthen community and connection.
At first, I thought of starting as a women's circle. I don’t know why. I decided that was too limiting to who may want to be involved. I also thought it should be more inspired by art therapy. I had these ideas for a whole year but I kept making excuses. I thought once I do [this], then I will launch it. I even saw someone come up with a similar idea a few months later and I was distraught.
Then I moved to Amsterdam because my boyfriend at the time was Dutch. He started hosting a film club at a local venue, and he spoke to the owner about my idea. The owner was actually the one that said, ‘it’s like a playground’. I held maybe four events in Amsterdam, but I didn’t feel like I had as much creative freedom. Then, my boyfriend and I split, and I came back to Sydney for three months, and held the first Sydney event. That’s when I had full creative control and was able to make my vision come to life.
EH Now having held events in a number of countries, how have you noticed the location – both the physical space and the city – impacts the ways in which people interact at each event?
AJ With our recent event in Melbourne, I knew people would understand the idea, and that it would likely resonate. The most important thing I wanted to communicate was the actual idea behind The Playground, as it can get misunderstood quite easily. It’s all about taking inspiration from our childlike selves, and learning from that. How can we look at the world in the same ways that we would as a child?
I never call it a workshop, because we’re not teaching people anything. The point is to create with freedom, rather than to make art. Any art technicalities are thrown out the window in favour of a rebellion against them. I don’t want people to try and make anything ‘realistic’. It was beautiful to see how much the team really understood this.
This was the first time an event was run without me there. Honestly, I’ve learnt it’s all in the little details. Even down to the way I make the posters. It really has to translate what it’s about. It’s a bit cheeky, and not too serious, but it’s also a legitimate event. Honestly, I do think I could do a better job of explaining it in words on our socials.
EH I think the statement in your Instagram bio is a good encapsulation. ‘Reacquainting with your childlike artist’. It shows that it’s meeting in the middle.
AJ 100 per cent. I believe we all still have that playful side within us. We are in such a hustle mindset, and understandably so, because everything is so expensive now and it’s a difficult time to live in. But, as a result, we’re always looking for the ‘value’ in something. Play is the opposite of outcome, there’s no end value. It’s purely about the joy in that moment.
EH I know you do some work in the graphic design space, as do I, and I often feel very bound by rules. Graphic design is likely not too dissimilar from what you were taught in art studies, with regard to elements and principles, considering hierarchy and colour and so on. There can be a lot of bounds within creative spaces, which I do think serve a purpose, but sometimes are harder to tap into purely for your own joy.
AJ I think there is definitely a difference between trying to make something effective and purely creating for that cathartic release. People often say ‘I can’t come to The Playground because I’m not really creative’. I had a friend say this to me, who eventually came, and ended up going off on his own, drawing and writing stories across the paper the whole time.
EH I would say I am a creative person, but even I found it really hard in the beginning. I had a draw, or an instinct almost, to pull up a reference. For at least the first thirty minutes, I was drawing squiggles to try and release some creative energy.
The facilitators ran us through some optional exercises, which helped. What else do you encourage people to do to help find their flow?
AJ Something I have to remember is that a blank piece of paper is often more comfortable for me than it might be for others. It can be really daunting. The Playground is always developing, and the format is something I’ve been working on.
When we first started running the events, there was collaging available as well. My ex actually suggested we remove the collaging element, because everyone gravitated toward this. He told me it was too much of a ‘safe space’, which was really insightful and helpful. I really want people to be in the moment and think, I wonder what will happen when I do this. The second we start mixing colours, for example, then we’re thinking about what we want something to look like. That’s why even the lighting at the Melbourne event was perfect, because it being more dim meant people were less aware of themselves.
We held a Playground in February at Reference Point in London. This was the first time we had live music, and that was really interesting because people were so locked in – more than I’ve ever seen before. People said afterwards ‘I forgot where I was for a moment’.
EH I felt the same way. I totally lost track of time.
AJ That is exactly the goal. I want people to be the opposite of self-aware. I love considering all elements and how they may affect the atmosphere or people’s ability to create.
EH The setup with the butcher's paper and pens actually reminds me of a restaurant in my hometown. Even into my teens we’d go there and be drawing on the tables. It was fun and messy, and at the end of the day, we didn’t care because we knew we’d most likely spill pasta on our drawings anyway.
AJ I think subconsciously, that is a big part of where the idea came from.
EH I wanted to speak to you about your zine, ‘Meet Me At The Playground’ produced with Rambler Magazine. What was the process of this? How did the idea come about and what was the experience of creating this like?
AJ The idea of making a zine has also been brewing in my mind for years because I love print. I have a good friend, Kisi, who lives in the States. I met Kisi when she was travelling in London. She runs Rambler Magazine and came to me wanting to create a London-based zine with The Playground. She was the reason it could happen, she literally made my dreams come true.
She gave me complete freedom, and at first, I was freaking out. I thought, what am I going to make it about? Then it came to me to focus on the three main themes of The Playground: childlike creativity, play in adulthood, and finding community within a large city. Then I started thinking about who I wanted to be involved, such as artists and writers. When people began sending in their submissions, I was literally in awe.
During this time, I actually left my job, which was quite lucky, because I had no idea how much work was involved in making a zine. I thought once everyone sent me their work, easy peasy. I’m comfortable with graphic design, I’ll just piece it together. I ended up working day and night on it. I was so stressed, but in the best way possible. It was invigorating.
We held a launch for the zine in London, and my friend Gabi helped with the production. I was stressed about making the actual zine, so she organised the venue, drinks – everything.
EH Is this something you’d do again in the future?
AJ I would love to. I’m already thinking about the next one.
EH What other plans do you have for the future of The Playground? Any dream projects, collaborations or locations?
AJ A huge step I want to take is to form teams in different countries and cities. For the Melbourne event, I did everything I could from my side – from the poster, to ticketing, to marketing, to planning. But, I obviously couldn’t be there on the day. Having designated teams in different locations means it can be an ongoing series of events. At the moment there’s no profit whatsoever, it’s purely out of love. As long as the essence is translated properly, I’m not interested as much in income. I think that’s shown in the ticket prices, we try to make our events as accessible as possible.
EH It’s good that it’s operating at net-zero, at least. I know some people that run their passions at a loss, mostly out of necessity, but it can be a quick way to burn yourself out.
AJ Definitely. Overall, I’m really happy with how the Melbourne event went, and I learnt a lot from it. It can be really hard when you’re so close to it. So I think the first step is releasing control a bit, while still creating the bounds. I don’t think I realised how particular I am until I wasn’t there. How intense my vision is. I’m always the one moving the furniture around and doing the whole set up. But, I really trusted everyone involved in the Melbourne event. The Playground is evolving in the exact direction I want it to, which is really beautiful. Like when you have a crush and it’s on your mind a lot, that’s how I feel about The Playground.