Walk This Weekend (2020)
By Tamsin Grainger
Photo description: a single, female walker and her dog, walking on the horizon of a freshly ploughed field in Kent, England. Photo credit: Tamsin Grainger.
Diverse individuals walked in different parts of the world one weekend at the start of the first coronavirus lockdown and collected recordings of their environment which were made into a blog and film.
I have a good friend who was unable to leave her house during the first lockdown.
The weather was wonderful, nature blossoming, and I wanted to be able to show her what was going on outside.
I realised there were many others in the same situation – in Spain and Greece people were not allowed to walk outdoors; none of us could travel abroad to see nature in new places. So, I used social media to invite people to ‘Walk This Weekend’ on 4/5 April 2020.
I gave participants some basic directions: to take a short walk (within the acceptable 2 km / 1 mile radius most governments advised at that time), to look and feel and listen, and to record the sounds around them before sharing. 30 women and men from 8 different countries participated, including from Israel, the US and the UK as well as as several European countries, and 79 people signed up for the facebook group in 48 hours.
Some walks were rural and others urban. The project created a sense of community uplift, people focused on the emotions they felt at that time and offered them generously, in a way which created bonds across boundaries. Later, we were able to share the film and blog with each other, our friends and relations, and it established connections which exist today, one year on.
“Nature is indeed a saving grace. And if only we can all realise this without a shutdown, then the planet would be as healthy for the generations to come. Your video reminds of this - bravo!”
