Variation: Diurnal, Nocturnal

Over the course of one’s lifetime, humans will walk, on average, 120,000 kilometres. Equate that to a more comprehensible figure and you get 2,496,235 steps every year or 6,839 every day. For an individual these disappear in a series of forgettable daily events; some walks being less memorable than others: to the post office; or rushing home after a 9 to 5. We often walk without consciously considering it as an activity that takes time. My planned outdoor walks allow me to explore a deeper realisation of existence, creating a connection to Earth’s journey synchronised with my own, through imprint and impact. 

“Variation: Diurnal, Nocturnal” uses alternative printing processes, sculpture, and performance to explore an ever-changing world throughout a timeline of existence. The cyanotype prints, “Lifeline”, demonstrate temporality. We all have a finite amount of life, mirrored in the focus on palm lines indicating individual life span. The fragility of our existence is echoed in “Walk A”, a moving image piece following the timeline of an unfixed darkroom print as it fades out of view.

The “Blue Orbit” prints’ use of sun and moonlight relies on nature’s circadian rhythm, creating unexpected and extemporaneous outcomes. This is contrasted in the mapping of intentionally chosen walks in “Route”.  I extend this in my prototype sculptural pieces “Stepping Stones” manipulating foil into the “Route” outlines, assembled to resemble stones. Floor lying, they are presented as participatory pieces for audiences as an indoor performative walk. “Gathering” is a tactile manifestation of my walks; the result of dragging a canvas along paths to directly attach layers of the earth beneath me, which will in time crumble. 

 “Variation: Diurnal, Nocturnal” highlights how Earth has been and will continue to be here longer than the imprints of my walk.