A Life’s Walk is a project exploring the concept of mapping the
time and memories of a life, onto a physical line. The life is my own; the line
is the South West Coast Path. The project involves me walking approximately 270
miles from the maternity ward where I was born in Barnstaple, to the University
where I now study in Falmouth. Over the course of 50 days I will progress
through memories I have from each stage of my life, each one varying in
personal significance and detail. My aim will be to revive these memories in
some way and give them a new existence in the places I visit along the path.
Using my memory as a starting point I will turn my focus to the landscape and
people of the place I inhabit to create a series of videos, photographs, songs,
poems and ultimately mini performances of different forms, which will in some way,
revive and remap a stage of my life as a shared memory onto the line along which I travel.
I will meet with people, in both chance encounters and arranged meetings to
share my creations and invite them to join me in the creating. The journey will culminate with one final
performance combining everything I have gathered along the way as I arrive in
the present day at the Performance Centre at Falmouth University to a waiting
audience.This website will be my main form of documentation for the project. I will use the Interactive Map to plot my journey as I progress and embed the locations of the creations I develop. As well as keeping regular video and written blogs on the My Blogs section. I hope that this website will serve not only as a form of documentation but as portal for those of you who cannot physically interact with the project to do so virtually.
I am looking for people and groups to meet with at all stages of my journey, and offer performances, talks and workshops in exchange for a bed for the night or a garden to pitch my tent in. Please see The Route section of the website for my detailed itinerary. If you think you might be interested in meeting me or joining me for a stage of the walk, please don’t hesitate to contact me, if nothing else I’d love to chat.
I look forward to sharing my project with you,
Tom Vinall.