the care of walking
This weekend’s celebration of International Women’s Day is one more opportunity to highlight the central role of women artists in walking arts. While walking arts seem historically to be dominated by male figures like the Situationists and artists such as Richard Long and Hamish Fulton, feminist approaches have transformed walking into an act of collective care and sharing embodied knowledge. Women walking artists challenge traditional power structures by reclaiming space in ways that prioritize solidarity and community, and turning walking into a gesture of care.
Sophie Calle’s Suite Vénitienne reversed the male flâneur’s detached gaze, turning walking into an intimate act of following and observing. Clare Qualmann’s Perambulator questions how public spaces often exclude women, particularly mothers. Ali Pretty & Kinetika use large-scale community walking projects that incorporate textiles and storytelling to map women’s experiences through collective journeys.
Many feminist walking artists integrate care through protest, ecology, and deep listening. Rosana Cade’s Walking: Holding invites strangers of different identities to walk hand-in-hand, creating moments of public intimacy and reflection. Dee Heddon's & Misha Myers' The Walking Library transforms walking into a shared act of knowledge exchange by carrying books through landscapes. Artists like Lucy Orta (Nexus Architecture), Hamja Ahsan and Claire Hind have explored migration and environmental justice, extending care beyond the human. Their work extends care beyond the human, fostering relationships with the more-than-human world and challenging traditional hierarchies of knowledge.
Female walking art manifests itself as much in healing and solidarity. Georgina Starr’s I Am the Medium turns walking into a spiritual ritual, while groups like Women Who Walk create safe spaces for women and non-binary individuals.
By reclaiming mobility as a tool for agency, reflection, and collective action, women walking artists reshape how we experience and move through the world, making walking not just an act of movement but of meaning, resistance, and care.
And that is more than worthy of celebration.
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18 Mar, 2025 · 19:00 UTC
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Alan Cleaver walks the paths taken by postmen and post women on their daily delivery in rural Britain. The Postal Paths is a celebration of loyalty and committed public service. Keep reading
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