The Turnpike, UK
2020 - 2021
Drift was a walking project developed for the ACTIVATIONS programme at the Turnpike Gallery, Leigh. Activations is
a testing ground to explore ways that art can exist outside the gallery walls, making social change with and for the community.
The work moved through three stages, with the aim of investigating how collective walking could shift our relationship to place.
Initial action-research workshops were convened with six members of the local community (June 2020 - October 2020). Each walker shared with me a route that was significant to them, including canal side walks, heritage trails and explorations of the town centre.
During the second pandemic lockdown, the project continued online (November 2020 - April 2021) in the form of a monthly study group. We shared creative provocations and approaches to walking alongside nourishing conversations and mutual support.
Between May 2021 - July 2021, the project moved into it’s final stage. A fortnighly creative walking group which was open to everyone. Walks were led by both myself and members of the local community.
Together, we co-created three walks which were presented at the Wigan Arts Festival in August 2021.
The themes of the three walks were :
Walk 1 : (Turnpike to Pennington Flash Loop) bringing fresh perspectives and a sensory approach to walking.
Walk 2 : (Turnpike to Bridgewater Canal Loop) to discuss current social issues afftecting Leigh, such as safety in public spaces, threat to green spaces, wildlife conservation and gentrification.
Walk 3 : (Turnpike to Bickershaw Country Park Loop) linking the mining heritage to current re-wilding efforts being made by volunteers looking after Bickershaw Country Park. Including conversation prompts such as : the role of workers unions, multi-species communities and civic responsibility vs grass roots activity.
References & Reading:
Wanderlust. A History of Walking:
Rebecca Solnitt
Practice of Place:
Emma Smith
Social Class in the 21st Century:
Mike Savage
The Situationist City:
Simon Sadler
Resilience is Futile:
Corridor8
Mapping The Terrain, New Genre Public Art : Edited by Susan Lacy
Braiding Sweetgrass:
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Vital Little Plans: The short works of Jane Jacobs: Jane Jacobs
The Politics of the NUM (A Lancashire View): David Howell
This work was kindly supported by The Canal and Rivers Trust, Lancashire Wildlife Trust and Arts Council England.