Between the lines
Emerging from the practices of documentary photography, my work delves into the complexities of social dysfunction, particularly as it relates to the nurturing of relational skills. This project examines how access to spaces designed for team sports is often limited, highlighting their role as foundational environments for developing social interaction abilities.
In team sports, individuals unite around a shared objective, learning to integrate collectively while navigating specific rules and goals. The absence of these early social dynamics may contribute to the observed deficits in community cohesion.
In Eastern Europe, the most accessible venues for such interactions are the open-air sports fields of public schools. The project closely investigates these vital social spaces, placing particular emphasis on those in former working-class neighborhoods established during the communist era. This comparative analysis also includes privately managed fields and those located in metropolitan recreational areas.
During childhood in this communist context, these fields served as essential backdrops for camaraderie. Neighbors, friends, and classmates would come together on fluidly defined football pitches, where goals could be improvised with stones or backpacks, the height of the goal up to the goalkeeper’s knee level, or as far as he could stretch his hand. Game times were dictated by school breaks, the first goal scored, or the moment dusk fell.
The visual narrative reveals a reality where many of these spaces are dominated by asphalt surfaces that are ill-suited for sports activities, with locked gates and towering fences restricting access. Schools opting to replace traditional sports fields with indoor halls further limit opportunities for engagement.
Of course, there are sports fields with adequate facilities, but they are privately or municipally managed and require fees that render them inaccessible to many due to cost and location.
The methodological approach is straightforward: capture elements within these public spaces—demarcation lines, goals, signage—that define team sports environments. This photographic exploration intentionally deconstructs the subject, revealing that a “sports field” transcends its physical components; it is shaped by its own set of rules and temporality, influencing reality beyond its boundaries.
Teodor Bădărău, Iași, june 2017
