(sa)line

Abstract

Walking is an action or gesture that involves the whole body working in response to one’s surroundings. As Hamish Fulton outlines, “Each walk has its rhythm in step with the land traversed. Each individual pace provides a measure for the whole walk... the measure of the walk being the rhythm.” Walking involves navigating and planning, whether well in advance or seconds before the next step takes place. Paths develop through this collaboration with the landscape, the up and down, working around rocks and impassable areas, and for a purpose, whether it is getting somewhere the most efficient way or via the most scenic route. For me, walking has become the active site of art making as well as reflection, it allows for both observation and creation. Walking is performance over permanence; it is the lively act of moving through space, in response to the location. It is within this gesture of walking that my work is most enlivened.