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Walking the Boundaries
By: Tim Ridley
I am starting a residency on Epsom Common. This is a project I have devised and organised in conjunction with the local council, arts organisations and the city of London. There will be three art walks over the summer, they will concern the boundaries both real and imagined that exist over this remenant of wilderness that is only 17 miles from central London.
Tim Ridley
After 17 years as a freelance photographer during which I dipped my foot in the world of Fine art photography, I decided to go back to college. So via the City Lit foundation course and Chelsea BA, I now have a degree and a practice. Differences both real and imagined are my concern. I encounter them through the camera the media, found objects or my past. the end result can be a photograph, an assemblage, collage or a performance. I like to use metaphor.
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Julia Manheim, 'Artwalks Epsom', Digital image, July 2012. Photo: Julia Manheim. A stop to draw and talk on the artwalk.
# 3 [13 November 2012]
Now winter is here and the walks are over. I felt it was a very successful process, I got a total of 7 people along to walk over the commons and I have realised that a wet Monday in October is not a great time to expect a big turn out. Next year the walks will all be on Sundays in June, July and August and I am going to have help with the PR side of things. I have nearly pressed the submit button on my ACE funding application, which has been given a great boost by this pilot in 2012 and the fact that i got some money from a community fund to help with the costs this year. It is the first money I have had for a pure art project since leaving college in 2011, so for that I am very very pleased.
From now on the blog will be at
http://artwalksepsom.blogspot.co.uk/
I have renamed the blog so as to re-emphasise the walking and art conjoining.
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Tim Ridley, 'Pebbles Porth Ysgo', Still from Digital video, July 2012. Photo: Tim Ridley. Detail of pebbles in a stream on Welsh beach
# 2 [9 August 2012]
I have had an operation on a cataract in my left eye, and the results are nothing short of miraculous. Contrast, saturation and detail, especially in back lit situations has improved greatly. The slow growth of cataracts means that you get used to the clouding and although you notice it, you learn to live with it.
We walked the Lleyn coastal path just a week after my operation and it was a revelation. It is a remote and beautiful coastline. Some of the beaches are four miles long and deserted. The hedgerows full of Red Campion and Mombrisha, and the variety of pebbles on one beach amazed me. The duality of Welsh and English languages on the peninsular is of interest to me as in some instances they can be seen to be in opposition.
This visit to the Lleyn has persuaded me to make a short film around Nefyn, and given me renewed vigour to pursue the residency on Epsom Common.
I only had my iPhone with me so I made some preliminary videos and stills, I include one from Porth Ysgo.
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Tim Ridley, 'The footpath from Great pond to Woodcock', Digital image, 10/7/12. Photo: Tim Ridley. We make boundaries as we walk on the common, some official some habitual.
# 1 [11 July 2012]
It has taken many months of work to get this far and I will be trialing the walks this summer with a view to getting ACE funding for next year. I have the possibility of some funding from a local committee of councilors, but so far it has been down to me to email, meet and ask for help.
The common in Epsom and Ashtead was the first place I crossed the line physically and mentally between urban and wilderness worlds. This was as a school boy and it was a revelation. We passed into a place of birdsong and trees where I was both scared and fascinated. Ever since I have returned to walk over the heathland, woods and tracks that cover some 936 acres.
My interest in boundaries started on the common and has underpinned a lot of my art practice.
The next walk will be on the 27th of August, so please come along, see details on my other blog.
http://walkingtheboundaries2012.blogspot.co.uk/201...
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Comments on this post
Rob yes it is fascinating how when we are in woods we instinctively make shelters, well children do and we, as adults, join in. partly it is the availability of materials, but I think it goes back a long way in our collective psyche. Let me know where your wood is as I want to record more shelters, and I am often down in Kent anyway. The idea of a parallel walk is great, and Cosmo should go for sure, I love dogs. Thanks. Tim
posted on 2012-07-13 by Tim Ridley
Hello Tim, I just looked on the blog you linked to and saw a photo of a den constructed of dead wood etc. It is bizzare how the woods near me have so many of these contructions appearing ever more frequently. So much so I asked the owners of the woods; Kent Wildlife Trust if this was something they made with school parties on woodlands visits? No, it is members of the public making them.....was the reply. Then I remembered I had made one with my children about 10 years ago. It has long gone as the area has been coppiced now. Epsom is too far for to meet on a woodland walk but I could do a parralel one.....I'll take Cosmo my dog with me!
posted on 2012-07-11 by Rob Turner