Walking Publics/Walking Arts is a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council exploring the potential of the arts to sustain, encourage and more equitably support walking during and recovering from a pandemic.
A broad selection of artworks about walking and art during the pandemic. Plenty to delve into on a rainy day – see how artists responded to the questions below.
1. How and with what impact have artists used, adapted and evolved walking as a creative tool in response to COVID-19 restrictions?
2. How can learning from their expertise and innovations be applied more widely to support more people to walk well, in and out of a pandemic?
I submitted my film As Above So Below, which was selected for Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2020 and was made during the pandemic.
As Above So Below is a brief foray into multiple-angled shots, using a range of processes simultaneously. The set-up was carefully planned and orchestrated, the weather clement and my focus good. And I don’t mean on my cameras, I mean in my mind.
During lockdown my capacity to give genuine attention was limited. My brain was like a butterfly, flitting about, landing, settling for a while, then off again. I walked to the location time and time again. I sat on the swing, listened, watched and assimilated what I saw, smelt, felt and heard. I gathered various cameras – a 360-degree camera, iPad for animation, video cam for the view.
My walking body became another lens, of sorts. A sensor.
The split-frame film reflects my wandering thoughts, the narration edits as it goes.
Carolyn Black 