NEARLY THERE, YET

“Into the forest I go, to calm my mind and find my soul.” John Muir

Helensburgh is a small town on the west coast of Scotland. Depending on your point of view it is either the beginning or the end of a walk that spans Scotland from Dunbar in the east, known as The John Muir Way. Muir, who left Scotland in 1849 for the US where he became known as the father of the National Parks, is famous as a conservationist, activist and writer, notably extolling the virtues of protecting and accessing wildernesses for the benefit of both mental and physical well-being.

If you jump in the car and drive for just a short while from here, you’ll find yourself in the midst of some incredible scenery. But not everyone has a car, or can afford to run it for scenic jaunts. And not everyone who walks can walk far.

This work documents my efforts to expand on the boundaries imposed by limited finances and fractured health, while considering the idea of distance - geographical markers of progress as well as the gap between expectation, representation and reality. It represents also a notation of my physical and spiritual progress through a landscape that is only nearly a wilderness.