The idea for this project first came to me one evening, as we travelled around the UK in our van with our two year old daughter in the summer of 2021. It was the evening, and I was reading The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane under the light of a head torch. I have always loved reading about adventures on foot. I was still working on my previous show at the time ‘This Island’ documenting the beauty of the changing seasons and the British Isles. The thought came to me in a flash, I knew as I was reading his words that my next step would be to celebrate the act of walking and all it means to me. 

I have been lucky to travel extensively in my life so far and have walked wherever possible in order to process my surroundings at a meaningful pace. Before Covid I had always ventured far seeking out the wild places by hiking in Patagonia, Mongolia, other areas of Asia and Europe. The environmental implications mean travelling further afield is a less favourable option these days, and since the arrival of my two children, now six and two, I have found so much joy in walking in the UK; in particular Cornwall, Wales, Gloucestershire and Western Scotland.  Therefore the British Isles are the subject for this show.

For the past two years I have been reading books and essays that reference or are solely about walking, as a way of broadening my understanding of walking as a practice, and what it represents to people all over the globe. From pilgrimages to exploration, research trips to self-discovery, walking holds a special and irreplaceable space in so many people's lives. 

I would like my paintings to invite the viewer to slow down, to consider the details in nature that we so often overlook. ‘And The Landscape Watched Us Leave’ offers a chance to reconnect with the rhythms of the land and to honour the transformative power of walking through nature.

All the titles for this show have been taken from readings and research during this project.

After the show, I am meeting with makers who have influenced my practice and who themselves take inspiration from walking and nature. I will walk with them and record our conversations. We will collect an object each from our walks, and these will be displayed in my next show in a few years. This is an ongoing project, and I hope it will lead me on a nourishing and fulfilling journey, just as a walk is capable of doing.