Walking at 6000’: Phil McIntyre-Paul Artist Statement

Phil McIntyre-Paul | Artist Statement

Walking is one of the most ordinary things we do. It is on the list with breathing, sleeping, and heart beating. We even say “pedestrian” to imply routine, daily, nothing out of the ordinary.

But every trail tells a story, no matter how ordinary. Every walk is an act of relationship—with each other, between communities, with other species, with the land—if we choose to pay attention. Phil asks, as Secwépemc leadership at early meetings of the Shuswap Trail Alliance were pushed to ask: if every trail tells a story—what story will we tell now?

Rebecca Solnit observes in her exceptional reflections on walking “The walking body can be traced in the places it has made,” (Wanderlust, 2000) and suggests the manifestation of those tracings—our pathways and trails and even maps—are born out of our imaginations and desire. The act of walking begins to sound a lot like artistic process.

Phil’s audio walks are—simply stated—pedestrian walks, born out of imagination and desire. Rhythms, textures, layers, thoughts from the landscape recorded over the last year in this place as a settler walking within Secwepemcúl’ecw —a fact for which he is continuously conscious and deeply grateful.

One walk is recorded live at 6000’ (1800 metres)—a snowshoe trek with Phil’s friend, Brian Sansom, in the East Shuswap alpine. Another is a spoken word reflection from seasons of walking with his dear friend John Coffey in those same East Shuswap alpine spaces. The rest come from walks over the last year on Shuswap Trails accessible to anyone—Larch Hills, Turner Creek, Syphon Falls, Little Mountain; and while not alpine walks, at elevations ranging from 1800 feet (550 m) to 4000 feet (1200 m), they all hold hints of the land speaking to us through each step.

Stand up, go outside, and walk a new story into being. What story will you tell?

All Shuswap Trails are in the unceded territory of the Secwépemc Nation. We walk them with gratitude, respect, and care for the land.