Not Moving Forward, but Simply Moving: Walk, Write, Work

By: Mauri Connors '15

Advising Faculty: Heidi Henderson, Karen Gonzalez Rice

Not Moving Forward But Simply Moving: Walk, Write, Work is an honors study structured as an artist book, a form of art where the book operates as an object of art in its entirety. At the heart of this research project is an investigation into three key concerns: humans’ decreasing interaction with the natural world, particularly through their bodies; limited and decreasing access to wild spaces; and the human ability to use the body as one way to experience the world and to express emotion, data, and knowledge. "My argument and belief is that with greater exposure to the wild comes a greater care and love for it for its own sake, and that only with greater exposure can we fully face the human degradation of nature and our disconnect from wild spaces.

To begin to produce this thesis, I established a daily practice of walking and writing. I maintained this practice from September 20, 2014, through April 18, 2015. In each of these practices I was inspired by artists such as Hamish Fulton, a British walking artist, whose work is a practice. To me, good artistic practice is the sustained maintenance of restraint, repeated actions over time, and the cultivation of ideas.

This honors thesis may be read in its entirety at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College.

http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/dancehp/10/

Related Fields: Dance