In November 2020, artist and photographer Joseph Wright embarked on a project exploring the 165 public footpaths of his local parish on his daily lockdown walk. As part of our ‘On Familiar Ground’ series on Instagram, Joseph shares some of his spellbinding images with us…
All images by Joseph Wright
The majority of the ideas for my work come from walking, alone. More often than not, these journeys begin at my own doorstep. Within 10 minutes I can be in the open countryside, within thirty minutes I can be out of sight of my village and already disconnecting mentally from the humdrum of life. There's something about the rhythm and pace of a good walk that puts you into a different mindset; more receptive to the world around you. Everything just seems to make sense when you’re walking.
There are 165 footpaths in our village parish and while I've walked them all over the years, indeed many of them multiple times, I had yet to really incorporate them into my photographic work. So, while we've been encouraged to stay local, close to home, I set forth to walk them all once more before the end of 2020 and attempt to encapsulate a single image, which for me typified seeing and experiencing each path.
