These succession of days are presented as a visual diary combining my own thoughts and those of the book I have been reading during these days of residence, Elogio del caminar, or "Praise for walking" (Le Breton, David, 2015, Siruela Editions ISBN:978-84-16280-93-3) A faboulous essay about the different layers that surround the act of walking, unfortunately not yet translated in English. Therefore, I wanted to share some of the passages that made a lot of sense to me during the wandering journey in Bjorko. Hence the quotes that accompany my daily experience.
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Bernardita Bennett lives and works in Berlin. She studied a Visual arts Licentiate in Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Master in Arts and New Media Universidad de Chile, Master in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies Bauhaus Universitat Weimar. Glogauair residency, Museum of art Seoul residency, Sommerakademie in Salzburg. Exhibitions in Santiago, Berlin, Weimar, Seoul, Salzburg etc. Awarded with Fondart chilean scholarship for art projects developments.
"Walking is sometimes a rediscovered memory, not only because of the invitation it makes us to meditate on ourselves in the course of our wandering, but also because it sometimes manages to trace a change that brings us back the course of time and frees us to a myriad of memories. It is then that walking brings back death, nostalgia, sadness; it awakens time by the grace of a tree, a house, a river or a torrent, or sometimes of an old face that we once came across on a path... Walking is a remedy against anxiety or melancholy...
The good fortune of the walker, in the midst of his anguish, is the opportunity offered to him to come face to face with his existence, to maintain a physical contact with things. Drunk with fatigue, setting himself tiny but effective objectives, such as going there instead of there, he still controls his relationship with the world. He is disoriented, it is true, but he is looking for a solution, even if he does not yet know it. The path then becomes an initiatory path, transforming the difficulty into an opportunity; the alchemy of the path carries out its eternal task of transforming man, putting him back on the path of his life"
Le Breton, David. Elogio del Caminar. Page 235-237
Now with the calmness of the sound of the water I feel in peace and lucky to be here. I want to feel the magic of the moment. It's like a huge wave of happiness that is hard to digest so easily.
"A walk in the middle of the night, under the moonlight, in the forest or in the countryside, leaves a trail of memory that is not easily forgotten. Under the stars and in the darkness, man finds his original state as a creature thrown into an infinite universe in incessant movement: it makes him question his presence in the world, it immerses him in a cosmology, in a diffuse but powerful personal religiosity. Night confronts man with the two faces of the sacred: awe and terror, two ways of being torn away from the world of ordinary perceptions and confronted with the world beyond oneself. If for some the night is a universe of propitious emotions, for others it is the realm of countless threats." Le Breton, David. Elogio del Caminar. Page 105
Launching oneself into the experience of walking alone or accompanied requires effort, courage and facing one's own fears. But it also has pleasant satisfactions, such as allowing oneself to let be carried away by thoughts, to transit freely in the past, present and future, and even to sing in solitude without being ashamed.
In the collective experiencie it allows to create a common transcendental experiencie towards nature,help one and other to cross dificult parts of the paths and also orientate on the needed directions.
The journey makes us and unmakes us, it makes us burst. And although I arrive here with the last word, this is only a stage of the journey. Fortunately we will depart again, to walk and provide us another time with images and sensations
After a couple of hours crossing collectivelly the sea coast we arrived to the white and soft sand of Rumshamn. We engaged as a group into a collective performance, a short but conscious walk through the water, where some concentration was needed to resist the body of flow that means to move the legs in the aquous matter. A natural line of walking bodies was created, communing as a group with nature.
Sand, seashore, mud and rocks are tailor-made for the body and the commotion of existing.
"The relationship with the landscape is always an emotion rather than a look. Each place manifests a range of different feelings depending on the mood of the people who approach it. Each space potentially contains multiple revelations and that is why no exploration of a landscape or a village is ever a drop in the bucket. The wonder of smelling the pine trees warmed by the sun, of seeing a stream meandering through the countryside, an abandoned gravel pit collecting crystal clear water in the middle of the forest, a fox crossing the path so calmly, a deer stopping among the leaves to observe the intruder. "
Le Breton, David. Elogio del Caminar. Page 103
I think it is normal to sometimes feel like crying while walking alone. It means that there is a space to let the feelings in, there is room for them away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, home, work, the noise and stimulus of the city.
It is to see in nature that reflection of what I have not allowed myself or have not been able to feel in the last weeks. The migratory phenomenon, going to and coming back from Chile, being with my family, with the life I left behind, my things, my furniture, my books, my bed, my mom's things. My dad, my grandmother, knowing that they do not have so much time left and I go back and forth, taking advantage of every moment with them as if it were the last one.