[esc]
EXPERIMENTAL SPACE COLLECTIVE
PORTAL: WALK 4
Walks connecting countries
WALK 4
Anywhere in the world
23rd April 2022
A collaboration between different countries
For this PORTAL Walk the invitation was world-wide.
We all took a photo as a simultaneous action during a walk from our homes. We walked at 5am and/or 5pm (BST).
This experiment in connecting places through walking and gesture was made possible by the enthusiastic participation of 23 people in Bulgaria, England, India, Kazakhstan, Poland, Scotland, Turkey and the USA.
After the walks our images were paired and we imagined stepping from one place to the other. The pairings that emerged were as follows:
Ayaana and Caroline
Ceyda and Judy
Debra and Roger
Ean and Caroline
Feyza and Sally
Gisha and Roger
Joanna and Chris
Lalitha and Maya
Pragya and Michelle
Pragya and Sally
Sandy and Chris
Sarah and Diane
Sveta and Rosemary
Svetlana and Julia
Ayaana, 9.30am, Goa, India
Caroline, 5.00am, Norfolk, England
Ayaana
When I stepped into the other place, I wished I could live in the clouds and just watch the beauty of this place the whole day. I could imagine myself walking on the road, admiring the water, the greenery and the sky.
Caroline
An elevated stillness of sound.
Skin hums, humidity on the rise.
An intake of breath, shallower than before.
A sweetness to taste, not found on the last shore.
Ceyda, Istanbul, Turkey
Judy, 5.00am, Suffolk, England
Ceyda
The smell of lavender and sound of laughter, off at a distance, ghosts remaining.
I imagined a walk where one came upon this space, although it may have been your back yard- and though it looked quiet and nobody was there, somehow imagined a lot of sounds not too far away.
How brilliant and funny!!
Thanks everyone!
Judy
Ceyda I Imagined waking up in your room next to a table of water bottles and glasses of water to refresh me. Imagining that it is warmer in Turkey and there may be windows open with a warm breeze blowing through the room.
The combined pictures made me think of the words “Beam me up Scotty “ from Star Trek, and in a way though I was not physically beaming up to your room I was mentally imagining myself there!
Debra, 12 noon, Portal Beach , USA
Roger, 5.00am, Watford, England
Roger
I will confess that while I was enthusiastic about the project and the concept of juxtaposing everyday scenes from different parts of the world I didn't have great expectations of the idea of overlaying them. This example has proved me quite wrong. I am delighted with the result. Somebody has cleverly matched the horizons of the two views and artfully cropped the result to create a balanced composition.
Considering my caption for the original picture concerned; -'the geographically lowest point in my town, a sink for car pollution and the site of a petrol station built on a filled in river', -I feel that your composite picture, of a flooded site filled with the ocean from Debra's pic, could well be a photograph of the future for this area if/when the floods predicted by global warming take place.
Thank you for organising this exercise. I feel that it has captured an issue of global concern to all of us and it has put me in touch with Debra whose picture is of the ocean that connects us, as my little river eventually flows into her sea. (I do hope it is the Atlantic which will make the connection a direct one).
Debra
Your insights are quite stirring. Sometimes I look out at the ocean (the land on which our building sits is 12 feet above sea level) and I think: hmmm, one day the waves might be creeping up to our lobby . . . and you had the same thought about your motorway being flooded. I also share your admiration of the cropping and the positioning in the merged version of our photos. This team knows what it is doing!
But what I love the best is both of us looking at the world, intently, at the same time.
It's so good to feel the connection.
Ean, 11.00am, USA
Caroline, 5.00pm, Norfolk, England
Caroline
Relief. Resolve. Security awaits behind this cherry red welcome and panelled protection.
Feyza, 11.00am, St. Louis, USA
Sally 5.00pm, Knapwell, England
Feyza
A child’s playground shapes the path of her dreams…yesterday, today and tomorrow…pieces mystically quilted together through time.
Plus a line from a Whitney Houston song, “The Greatest Love of All”…
I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way…
Sally
The soft grassy arrow becomes more defined and definite. It tells me to follow the path into the unknown. I want to walk around the bend to see what is beyond the photograph.
Gisha, 10.00am, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Roger, 5.00pm, Watford, England
Gisha
Business or work. It's like I went to work after a weekend break. The fence is common to both photographs, only in the first photo behind the fence you can run, play football and lie on the grass, and in the second photo behind the fence the work is waiting for you :)
Joanna, 6.00pm, Warsaw, Poland
.jpg)
Chris, 5.00am, St. Ives, England
Joanna
Transcendence
Chris
From solitude to life.
Lalitha, 11.00am, Bellevue, USA
Maya, 10.00am, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Maya
It turned out very interesting!
My first feeling is that a picture of the same tower was taken from inside some room. I confess, I read the text after viewing the photos
I immediately began to remember the buildings nearby, and even (!) found the corner from where the picture could have been taken, but I thought maybe earlier, because I could not remember exactly this door. But they say, read more, and you made me, or rather, I amused myself when it became clear that these were two photographs!
Julia, 5.00pm, Herts, England
Svetlana, Bulgaria
Julia
Beauty and light warmed by sunshine, bird blossoms in evergreen
Svetlana
I am in the Greek Church and surrounded by beautiful frescos all around the space.
Finally, I found a connection between the two places.
I stepped over the island in 2002 and felt the constant wandering in overcoming challenges. The overall movement is essential for stillness in each small step. For me paradise is in physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Stages are unknown as pattern of the peacock dance. However, the photograph from England moved my thinking into the flying stage.
The two photographs placed together show the parallel world where I found the answer why I am here.
Pragya, 9.30am, Goa, India
Michelle, 5.00pm, St Ives, England
Pragya
Down the stairs and onto the wooden path, from the hot Goa sun to the pleasant spring meadows.
Sandy, 5.00pm, Wimbledon, England
Chris, 5.00pm, Knapwell, England
Sandy
Peaceful perambulations
Chris
When life’s pathways cross
Pragya, 9.30pm, Goa, India
Sally, 5.00am, St Ives, England
Pragya
Time travelling
Sally
I tumble off the edge of my tarmac path into a bed of soft flowers and lush,prickly leaves
Sarah, 5.00pm, Scotland
Diane, 5.00pm, Bath, England
Sarah
Grass green and sky blue. White houses blurred as striped cliffs between the earth and sky. Two seated flower figures below. Two birds stretched forward above. My eye is drawn to the sky and flight.
Diane
I stepped beyond the city into the blue light and soaring birds encourage the possibilities of now and forever
Sveta, 10am, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Rosemary, 5.00pm, Birmingham, England
Sveta
Я вошла в портал и попала в параллельную реальность, там весна, мир и покой. Там прекрасно! И дорога ведёт в будущее.
I entered the portal and got into a parallel reality, there is spring, peace and quiet. It's great there! And the road leads to the future.
Rosemary
Hidden corners invite exploration