A conversation between Annemarie Lopez and artist, writer, educator, Clare Qualmann on the eve of Walking Arts Encounters, Prespa, July 2025.

Annemarie Lopez (AL): How has walking with children influenced your work?

Clare Qualmann (CQ): I have done a lot of work around walking with children. I created a decade-long artwork called Perambulator, which focused on walking with prams and very small children. Although my kids are older now, that experience remains in the background of my work. Through that project and other curatorial work, I connected with artists both in the UK and internationally who incorporate walking with children or explore intergenerational walking.

Because of recent discussions on care, walking, and community, it felt like the right time to pull on that thread and highlight it. There are two main aspects to the strand I’ve worked on for the Walking Encounters in Prespa, developed closely with Berlin-based artist and curator Clementine Butler-Gallie. One is artists making work explicitly with or for children, or about children. The other is artists and scholars who have children themselves. The idea is to create a space that welcomes and seriously considers children’s participation and creativity. A byproduct of this is that adult participants who are parents or carers can bring their children, allowing them to participate fully.

Walking, Care, and Everyday Life

AL: You mentioned care – could you talk more about what care means in the context of walking with children and partners? Is it about inclusion or something broader?

CQ: There are definitely other concepts involved. One key area of interest is functional walking – everyday, routine, repetitive walking. Although I enjoy leisure walking, most of my creative walking work is about walking as transport, as necessity. Having children changes how you walk. It makes you more aware of different modes of walking.
For example, Manchester-based artist Shonagh Short created To the Moon and Back, about the school run – walking children to school – and how those miles accumulate and matter. While epic walks, like Richard Long’s 120-mile continuous trek, seem impressive, these small daily journeys build up and carry emotional care in both directions: taking children to school and being briefly released from that responsibility.
This connects to my Perambulator project around mobility devices like prams, which initially felt like a hindrance but later became an amazing mobility aid, enabling us to go further, faster, and carry what we needed. So, there’s a lot of care and labour expressed through these parent-carer walks.

Walking as Ritual and Healing

AL: That’s a really interesting point, especially since much of male walking I’ve seen tends to focus on heroic or epic walks, ignoring the gentle ritual side you mention. Do you see a connection between walking with children and healing?

CQ: I think so, but much of the walking I’m talking about is invisible, like parenting labour, which often isn’t recognized as ‘work’ or ‘walking’ that counts. These routine tasks are very gendered and often dismissed. Parents often don’t think of their walking as ‘walking’ in that way.
That’s where art can play a role – using creative media to make the ordinary visible and provoke moments of recognition or aesthetic resonance, which might shift thinking and have knock-on impacts in people’s lives. This is somewhat different from the sacred idea of walking as healing, but still related.

Walking with Toddlers: Rituals and Tempo

CQ: During the first lockdown, my youngest toddler and I took repeated walks around the block. There was a ritual in it – she’d hang on the same railings, poke the same puddles, walk the same walls. It was soothing because we weren’t trying to get anywhere; there was no deadline.

AM: That leads into how children affect the tempo and focus of a walk.

CQ: Absolutely. Kids naturally do playful, exploratory walking – climbing walls, poking under bus stops, swinging on things, changing direction constantly. The difference is that adults often pressure children to conform to normative street behaviour, which walking art tries to disrupt. So there’s a lot of creativity inherent in how children walk that we could all learn from.

Planned Walking Activities in Prespa

AL: What activities are planned in Prespa for walking with children?

CQ: We’re curating an “encounter within the encounter” with several workshops designed for children or easy to include them.
As part of the ongoing “encounter within the encounter”, a series of workshops will be designed to engage children and create inclusive experiences for all. Swiss artist Jérôme Bichsel, will lead inspiring sunrise and sunset walks inviting children to connect with the natural rhythms of the day. Greek artist and teacher Athanasia Tziona will guide participants on explorations of bear traces, fostering empathy for wildlife and highlighting human and more-than-human relationships. The Art 25 collective will bring a giant puppet through Psarades, animating stories in the town square before setting off across the lake by boat. Peter Schreuder’s project, Playfield Made by Walking, will invite people to reclaim an overgrown basketball court by repeatedly walking its boundaries, gradually clearing the space for play.
Sessions using The Walk Book – my publication born from research on walking during COVID – will offer creative “walk recipes” for participants to try. Clementine Butler-Gallie will introduce street games from around the world, encouraging playful interaction, while Greek artist and teacher Kiriaki Stompou will support children with disabilities and adult volunteers on rewarding walks to a scenic viewpoint along the challenging Cape Roti Trail.

Keeping Children Interested on Walks

AL: A common complaint is that children get bored walking. How do you keep children engaged?

CQ: From my experience, you don’t call it a “walk.” Instead, say things like “we’re going exploring”, “going on an adventure”, “climbing trees”, “looking for bear traces”, or “playing street games”. These sound much more appealing.
I know families whose kids enjoy walks but only when there’s something to do, a hook. Bringing friends helps, too. Kids also like having things like whittling knives, kites, or hammocks to play with.
As a family, we often go to Epping Forest for “forest hangouts” – we don’t just walk in, we hang out, picnic, build dens, and climb trees. Plotting a strict route isn’t always appealing.

Reflections on Prespa and Walking with Family

AL: Could you reflect on what it’s like walking in Prespa with children?

CQ: I’m excited to take them. It’s an extraordinary, rural, and remote place. The heat will be challenging, but there are safe lakes for swimming, which is a big plus.
What makes it possible is the lovely community – lots of Greek-speaking people who can help us. The event is more relaxed than an academic conference or festival, with many parallel sessions and a big afternoon break to avoid the heat. It feels like a friendly community gathering.

Local Engagement and Future Plans

AL: Are there children in the region who might join?

CQ: There are around 70 children in the whole region. Our collaborators include local teachers who will share the program with schools and networks. We hope to connect with local families, not just experts or scientists.

Walking as Connection and Healing in Depopulated Areas

AL: This event fosters real community connection, do you think of that as a form of healing, especially in an area experiencing depopulation?

CQ: Exactly. It’s important that this encounter connects people living and working locally. Walking, family routines, and care are all interwoven here, which resonates deeply with the community.
Psarades is a very small village, so it’ll be like a festival – everyone bumps into everyone. See you there!