barefoot pilgrimage around salmon point
walking, crawling, balancing, creeping, gripping, swaying, crab-walking my way around a rocky point in the Narrows in my bare feet, logging the physical sensations as they occur and later transcribing these onto my skin.
deliberately complicating the journey for myself by moving slowly and experiencing a range of sensations on the soles of my feet, as well as elsewhere in my body.
framing the walk as a pilgrimage to revisit the nostalgia of this location where I fished with my father.
noting that the awkward gymnastics required to write on the soles of my feet created its own set of physical sensations, many of them much less pleasant than the walking itself...
wOW! How creative. Compelling. Complex! B beautiful photography..I ... especially find the double self-portrait interesting ...YOUR feet and YOUR FACE. You make us feel that your feet are the narrator(s) of your walk. They tell the story literally and physically. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteSo Beautiful! I love the idea of pilgrimage. I gave the exercise a spiritual lens that I highly appreciate. I am curious to know more about the process of deciding what to write on your foot, how you wrote it? was it in one take? was it informed by the walk? what is the content about? is it related to your childhood memories? It also reminds me of the practice of Henna as a decorative act in celebrations.
ReplyDeleteCathy! How fascinating! The text is so carefully translated and pleasing to look at. It's easy to imagine that the effort was part of the pilgrimage - did you photograph the process at all? It would be instructive to see the partially completed foot. I really enjoy that your feet bear not only the text as evidence but also the green stains of the grass, the thicker areas of skin that allude to the pilgrimage, the bug bites! I agree with Gail, that the photography itself adds so much to the story of the pilgrimage / transcription process. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePS. I realize I don't even think I could reach my feet to do this exercise!
ReplyDeleteI am struck by your level of commitment to this exercise. What a powerful tribute to place and memory of your father. I appreciated having several photographs of your fully transcribed notes from your walk. Although the very act of writing on your feet fully stakes out your position, giving me several looks at your finished work showed me the more of the personal and human. Thanks so much for sharing your work!
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