A film and performance talk co-created with artist Carol Laidler presented at Walking’s New Movements Conference at University of Plymouth 2019.

Place and walking are at the centre of Dr Davina Kirkpatrick and Carol Laidler’s embodied art practices but what happens when our bodies age and deteriorate, when pain takes over, when movement is hampered? How does a body in pain take part within a dialogue into place and movement? How do we even begin to communicate what pain feels like? 

Inspired by Hallett and Smith’s 2017 book Walking Stumbling, Limping, Falling, and drawing on Davina’s Post-Doctoral Research workshops into visualising pain, Davina and Carol met for a series of walking conversations about pain and how it intrudes on, as well as becomes an active partner in creative practice. This playful inquiry continued through letters and collaborative writing, allowing slippage between our walking intentions and the fragility of our bodies. 

Carol Laidler walking on Hayle Beach