5 hilltop walks



Ritual d'été/Summer Ritual


Every year for 6 years, during August, I carried out a series of ritualistic actions that confront the human position to live daily life as a tourist. There is an auto-biographical base that retraces my feelings of being perpetually caught between two identities and generally the complications of having emigrated from the UK. These actions are often aware of the specific geographies of my environment. 


The first three actions were specific to the South of France.
The actions have included, the demand for lost sunglasses in bars and restaurants in the south of the country with the use of phrase book french . Getting lost under the scorching heat and make engravings of the landscape on pairs of sunglasses. A hunt to get photos of the British flag worn as an accessory. A song about
soils in different countries. And ofcourse, tanning tattoos of French words made in Whitley Bay for ArtHouses 2018.




Summer Ritual

#3

2016

Union Jack Logo


Marseille

Summer

Rituals:

3 : This ritual consisted mainly of stalking people who wore a Union flag design on their person, whether it was a T-shirt, a bag or something else. LEAM has helped to facilitate the tourist’s position in a number of embarrassing situations. I had to be strict about taking my camera out with me and exploring all the public spaces where I found people. Sometimes I had to play the role of an eccentric Englishman just to convince people to take a picture of the union jack that might seem like a violation of their personal space; taking pictures of people’s chests and children’s hats and T-shirts. One of them escaped to the beach, where I spotted a “union jack” bikini. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, so there’s no telling how I could have negotiated this conversation. I was proud to have a picture of a motorcycle helmet after chasing a guy for five minutes.