Hamish Fulton Walks

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 October 2013

“I am what I call a ‘walking artist’… Walking is an art form in its own right. I place emphasis on the experience of walking.”

The Cornwall Workshop opened with communal walks in Penzance led by Hamish Fulton and organised in partnership with Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange.  Fulton was invited to Penzance to mark the 40th anniversary of his commitment as an artist to the act of walking. In October 1973, having walked 1,022 miles in 47 days from Duncansby Head (near John O’Groats) to Lands End in Cornwall, Fulton decided to ‘only make art resulting from the experience of individual walks’. He has since made walking, both as an individual and as part of a group, the primary focus of his work.

The first walk took place on Penzance promenade on Saturday 19 October 2013 and involved Fulton and over 100 collaborators repeatedly walking the width of the promenade, towards and then away from the sea for 60 minutes, at a sustained pace of their choice. The second walk took place on the beach between Penzance and Marazion at low tide on Sunday 20 October. This took the form of a ‘slow walk’ with the 180 participants being divided into two parallel columns that very slowly overlapped, over the course of an hour.

Video documentation of the walks by Graham Gaunt was presented at The Exchange in Penzance in the weeks following the walks. Paragon Press produced a commemorative print which was given to all who participated in the walks.

Video and selection of photographs by Graham Gaunt of the walk on Saturday 19 October, Penzance Promenade.

Video and selection of photographs by Graham Gaunt, of the walk on Sunday 20 October, Penzance Beach.

Hamish Fulton Print, published by Paragon Press