Being Outside

We arrived in daylight and saw dusk. The lit lanterns, small fire and full moon became brighter as the darkness increased.

Being Outside

This is something that I long for, being outside of an evening allows me the chance to enjoy slow time, becoming more aware of the changes of light, birdsong and other details that are too often overlooked during busy days.

I have been asked to explain more about the ritualistic walk that I wrote about last week, so here are a few further details. The Salt Way which I intend to reveal as part of my MA, still exists on the ground and in text. On the ground it can be followed using a network of roads, byways, tracks and public footpaths. It is mentioned in various history books on the area and can be traced on maps. 

The procession up Golden Hill, Whitstable, along a well used public footpath was very simple. Nine people with lit lanterns walking slowly, about 3 foot apart carrying offerings to the 'Salt Way'. 

We all carried salt in the palm of one of our hands and then either flowers or sea-water in the other. The significance of this was to create a gesture that would 'wake-up' and celebrate The Salt Way, an ancient salt trading route that has been 'lost' to local knowledge, over the years.

It takes a conscious effort to walk slowly, the pace felt unfamiliar and awkward. We are so used to our fast pace of life that deep concentration was needed to slow down and feel the earth under our feet as we moved up the hill.

I wonder if any motorist on the nearby Thanet Way saw our procession and if they did, what did they think? It isn't anything that I have ever seen before. It must have been even stranger to witness the procession coming back down in the dark as we were still carrying our lit lanterns, the moon was full and the night was clear.

The participants wore hues of blue, green and red, colours representing the sea, the land and fire. The event was filmed for inclusion in my future MA show, it is a very beautiful, mellow film that picks up on the noise of the wind, the muffled voices, the whoosh of the passing cars and occasionally, snippets of the singing and toning which occurred, most unexpectedly.

The focal point of the evening was a third scale site-specific artwork that I had made earlier in the day. It acts as a way-marker on the route, being one of three that I have designed to encourage exploration and rediscovery of the process of salt-making and the path itself.

This specific way-marker celebrates the act of making salt by evaporation (heating saltwater in a clay vessel over an open  fire), it includes a handmade copper bowl sunk into the ground in which a small fire can be made. For this occasion the fire was 'fed' with dried lavender and salt which smelt wonderful. A small clay vessel made from London clay gathered from the seashore was placed on the fire and filled with sea-water. Blessings for the path were said and for all those who walked here long ago, each-other and all those who will walk here in the future.

The other two way-markers will complete the cycle of the salt making process. The first is symbolic of harvesting/gathering the sea-water and the last in the series celebrates the mould/form in which the salt was carried along the route in the past.