The Pilgrim’s Way 1971

Curator: Hamish Fulton's "The Pilgrim's Way," captured in 1971, presents us with a black and white photograph of a hollow lane. There's text, too, subtly placed below the image. Editor: It feels solitary, doesn't it? The lane itself seems to be swallowing light, pulling you into the depths of the earth. You can almost smell the damp earth and the aging trees. Curator: Fulton, known for his "walking art," completed this as a record of a 10 day, 160 mile walk in April. Consider the physical labor, the miles covered, transformed into this single image. Editor: It's not just about the walk, though, is it? It's about the path itself, the constant treading that shapes both the land and, perhaps, the soul. How many feet have worn down that track over centuries? Curator: Precisely! He is engaging in a dialogue with time, the social life of ancient paths and the individual experience of walking. Editor: So, we are left with this… a ghost of a journey and an invitation to tread our own path. Curator: Yes, to find the sublime in the everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary materials of the earth.