As part of the photography collective MAP6, I will be flying out to the Shetland islands located to the North of Scotland, in the most remote area of the UK. Over five days Mitch Karunaratne, David Sterry, Heather Shuker, Phil le Gal, Richard Chivers and myself will be working on a collaborative series of photographs about the islands. I will primarily be located on the small island of Whalsay located to the east coast of the Shetlands, which I will be exploring on foot with my camera and tent.
WALKING THE ARUN
The River Arun is in the county of West Sussex, close by to where I live. At 37 miles long, it is one of the longest rivers in the South of England. From the series of small streams that form its source in St Leonards Forest, the Arun flows westwards through Horsham and continues through the South Downs towards Arundel, before joining the English Channel at Littlehampton. The river was once one of the busiest shipping arteries in the south, however with the coming of the railways and changes in coastal shipping traffic declined rapidly and the navigation ceased to be maintained from 1888. For some time I have been fascinated by landscapes that are in a state of change, in particular areas that were primarily industrial and now are returning back to some kind of feral, natural habitat. During an afternoon in early April I made a short walk of 7 miles alongside the river Arun between Arundel and Littlehampton. My walk was an attempt to make some kind of connection with the landscape which was once home to a busy shipbuilding industry.
BACK FROM TANZANIA
Since mid September 2017 I have been in Tanzania, working as the in country photographer for the NGO Raleigh International. After an incredible journey, I recently arrived back in the UK, and have been busy editing the work I made there. I am in the process of updating my website and hope to have the new work online soon.
IN TANZANIA
As of the 13th of September I will be out of the country until January 23rd 2018. For the following months I will be working in Tanzania as the expedition photographer for Raleigh International. Established in 1984, Raleigh is a sustainable development charity that works in remote, rural areas to improve access to safe water and sanitation, build community resilience, to sustainably manage natural resources and to protect vulnerable environments.
For the coming months communication may be limited but please contact me via my everyday email: paulwalsh1977@yahoo.com
You can follow my journey on the Raleigh International blog or via my Facebook and Instagram pages found on my website. See you in 2018….
SHIKOKU’S TEMPLE WALK
This week I was delighted to discover the work of photographer Alexandra Huddleston. For a number of years I have wanted to walk the 88 temple Pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku in Japan, so I was excited to discover a photographer who had done it. In 2010 Huddleston walked the entire 800 miles as a pilgrim. To complete the trail pilgrims worship at each of the 88 temples following a route that loosely follows the 9th-century Buddhist saint Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi). This was the second pilgrimage for the photographer (after the Camino de Santiago). The work, which was published as a book called East or West: A Walking Journey Along Shikoku’s 88 Temple Pilgrimage, includes a series of journal entries that account for some of the tribulations as well as the joys of the experience.
To discover more of Alexandra Huddlestons work you can visit her website here and you can purchase the book here.
ARCHITECTURE FOR TRAVELLERS
“A walk is always filled with significant phenomena, which are valuable to see and feel.“
Robert Walser, The Walk
Architecture for Travellers is a fascinating walking project from Joshua Edwards and Lynn Xu. Beginning during a residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, the project’s first book Photographs Taken at One-Hour Intervals During a Walk from Galveston Island to the West Texas Town of Marfa was published in 2014.
The walk began on November 10th on Galveston Island Texas and ended December 20th at 404 West Galveston Street in Marfa, Texas. Whilst walking from his birthplace on the island of Galveston to the town of Marfa, where he and his wife will build their own home, poet Joshua Edwards took a photograph at the end of each hour of walking with the constraints of using only available light and a fixed lens. The book collects all 230 black and white photographs from the 680-mile trip and serves as a companion to a collection of poems and travel pieces.
To find out more information about the project or buy the book, you can visit the dedicated website here.
The walkers:
Joshua Edwards is the author of three collections of poetry and directs the independent publisher Canarium Books. His other photographic work can be found on his website here.
Lynn Xu was born in Shanghai, grew up in Chicago, and walked from Austin to Kerrville. She’s the author of a various of collections of poetry and the co-editor of Canarium Books.
DESIRE PATHS
Real Walks to Nonreal Places: An interesting new book by Roy Bayfield. You can purchase or simply find out more about the book on the Triarchy Press website here.
SCOTTISH PATH BUILDERS
Ordinarily I come across photographers that use walking as a means of making work, so it was exciting to discover a series about those that actually make the paths where people walk. Scottish Path-builders is by Glasgow based photographer Robert Andrew Mercer, and documents the building of rural pathways in the scottish mountains.
I briefly got the chance to talk to Robert about his project….
“I have been working with these guys for around 5 years, I also help them to build the paths. I get to see and document them from an inside point of view, and they’ve accepted me as one of their own. We live in remote places as a team, and I photograph them during and after working hours. I’ve made a huge body of work with them, and it all revolves around the subject of making paths for people to walk safely – with a philosophy of protecting the fragile ecosystems of mountain country in Scotland. It’s been a difficult project in some respects, but in many respects it’s been a rewarding one. Perhaps a lifelong project…”
I cant wait to see more of the work, but in the meantime you can visit Roberts website here.
VILNIUS REVISITED
In 2015 the MAP6 photography collective made a piece of work about the country that lies at the geographical heart of the European Union, Lithuania. Over 6 days 6 photographers set out to explore its transformation from communism to capitalism, and how it was coping with its new found Eurozone identity. For the Lithuanian Project, I worked on the series Bokštas 25 (Tower 25) where I walked around the capitals tallest building. As I walked I photographed those I met and made landscapes where I would somehow include the tower within the frame. The work was eventually exhibited in a number of locations and was made into a self published book. After recently revisiting the work however, I have found some images that never made it into the final edit, which I am sharing here.
MAP6 BACK IN MK
The MAP6 collective are pleased to announce that we will have another opportunity to exhibit the MK Project in Milton Keynes. Featuring my series Autopia, the show will run between Nov 1 – 30 and will be held at the MK Library. More details to follow soon. In the meantime MAP6 will be meeting in September to discuss our next project, exciting times for the collective.
PHOTOWALK 