Come a Wandering/Wondering with the Far East Flaneurs

Here I share some ponderings on two questions I heard a lot on recent travels with FLOAT in Far East Gippsland: What is a flaneur? And what is a walking artist? And what happens when they interweave their magic in regional Victoria, on Gunaikurnai Country…

So, we’ve signed up for a thing; guest artists and curious wanderers on the wonderful FLOAT’s Far East Flaneur, a pilot voyage. We’re not exactly sure what will happen, but know there will be interesting people and places (and delicious food!), and that over the course of six days we will walk from Lakes Entrance to Lake Tyers and to Lake Tyers House, kayak from the shores of this historic house down to Nowa Nowa, cycle from ‘Mingling Waters’ to Orbost, mosey to Corringle, paddle somehow across to Marlo and eventually end up at Cape Conran, 80kms later, with a final storytelling party at Sailors Grave Brewery, Dunetown. Phew.

We are all magnetised by the mastermind Andrea Lane and her legendary team of weavers, boatmen, dogs, chefs, creatives, and thinkers.

“All of us here at FLOAT believe in the role of creative environmental stewardship in a viable future for Far East Gippsland. And we reckon lots of others think the same. So we’re taking the leap in the belief that we can all be the change we really, really want.”

Lured by this new way of showcasing an area and its people, through this cross-pollinating experiment of locals doing their thing and visitors bringing their creative responses and ideas. Reciprocity. Regeneration. How it might work ongoing I’m not entirely sure but I was grateful to be part of this brave regional flaneur-ing frontier, and my heart is full with connections and future possibilities.

So what is a flaneur, what histories does the term trace, and where does it meet walking art?

 

I pulled out this list of English walking words I made a few years ago now, all conjuring different speeds and modes of movement, though I note many evoke a sense of time or pleasure. (Pictured here with my flaneuring feet)

The French word flâneur, masculine for “one who wanders aimlessly” might join this list but it carries with it a certain cultural history of solo men in the cosmopolitan city.

As Molly Wagner of the Australian Walking Artists writes:

In discussing the female take on the flaneur in Lauren Elkin’s book Flaneuse Maria Popova (of the wonderful Marginalian) quotes Thoreau that “Every walk is a sort of crusade,” and in speaking of his sauntering “in an era when the activity was largely a male privilege — for a woman, these everyday crusades meant the dragging of long skirts across inhospitable terrains, before unwelcome gazes. It would take a century and a half of bold women conquering the mountains and reimagining the streets before Rebecca Solnit could compose her exquisite manifesto for wanderlust, reclaiming walking as an activity that vitalizes the mind.”

Wagner extends this in the context of Australia as “a vast country riddled with the consequences of colonisation” where walking artists are “increasingly interested in constructing community and emphasise the social and community engagement inherent in walking,” and how to do this respectfully on Country.

As a walking artist, a broad church of community and practice, and in my book- any person that wanders with a curious attention to their surroundings (and creates work either inspired by walks and places, or experiences that invite people to walk in different ways and forms) it was a joy to be with other wanderers, getting down low to inspect and photograph a beautiful flower on the ground, or bird in tree, talking about different ways we could be, weaving stories of geology, of life on the lakes, of public art telling First Nations stories of place, playing with weaving, cyanotypes, listening, walking drawing, considering relationships with nature, the human and non-human, a poem I wrote on a leaf as we rested in the cool rainforest section of the old rail trail…

Lightly hurtling along the bush track

Micro-climates of conversation, bird spotting, days of birth

AND WITH ME I CARRY

The patron saints of poetry and walking-

Mary Oliver and Rebecca Solnit,

noticing and telling of it, in

roughly translated songs

and orange moths

and bees and birds

that briefly bless our wheels, feet & oars

In the cross-over between walking art and the Far East Flaneur, carefully crafted with room for meandering whilst on route, we had both planned and spontaneous creative encounters, even the architectural construction of a flaneur’s hut- revealing a wealth of creative possibility at this special intersection of the local and visiting within a unique exploration of place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what does it mean to reimagine the flaneur in regional Victoria as a regenerative tourism pilot/plot? Not the original French dandy flaneur, with stylish hat and walking stick, but the comfortable shoes, sunscreen and insect spray, and sense of adventure regional Australian flaneur. We hold a loose geographical map but also become living responsive maps as we open ourselves to the people and places along the way, walking the tensions of knowing and not knowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through shifting flaneuring from its solo male, urban history, walking art (see Molly Wagner’s No Trespassing  and global projects like Eleanore Ozanne’s Women Walking the City at Night ) and creative walking adventures like the Far East Flaneur opportunities can be opened for more diverse and intergenerational cohorts to walk, observe, create and adventure in public spaces.

The experience reinforced for me the importance of what we are doing with the Australian Walking Artists- both as drivers of this rich artform and its myriad ways of connecting people to place, but also the importance, that has organically emerged, of older women finding this network of creative and collegial practice at this moment in time. What I am seeing are deeply intelligent and talented women, bringing innovative and exciting work to a world stage, and inviting all ages and genders along with them. Partnered with the ambitious regenerative project of the Far East Flaneur, we open fresh ways of looking at art, history, tourism, health and everything in between. Long may these openings unfurl and prosper!

Lots of love to all and special thanks to Dana Flahavin for her beautiful soul and photographs and Derek Cook from Up the Creek (who shepherded our travels) and describes the FLOAT world as below:

Where Art, Nature, Community and Change-Making collide. Located in East Gippsland, Lake Tyers is a submerged river valley separated from the sea by a strip of sand dunes, occasionally breaking open after heavy rainfall. This unique environment is reflected in the creative outlets of the people, too.

FLOAT is a community run, regenerative, social enterprise – inspiring art practices to engage with the natural world. It’s floating residency on Lake Tyers and community hub in Lakes Entrance invite people to engage in community and radical reimagining’s of ‘business as usual’ (see their Feral MBA). Inspired by their residencies, FLOAT offers a model for creative environmental stewardship and ever evolving Communiversity.

Stay tuned for the next Far East Flaneur

and how you can support!

Until then, some things to read and explore:

The Marginalian on Rebecca Solnit’s book Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Wanderlust: Rebecca Solnit on Walking and the Mind

and on Lauren Elkin’s Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London

 

Regen Gippsland

Alice Pepper’s deadly artwork on the East Gippsland rail trail

Storyteller Bert Spinks on the flaneur experience

The flaneur hut creators, Green Studio

Fishlife Collective

Corringle Weaving

Molly Wagner and Mel Hunt Autumn Equinox walk at Cape Conran

and one last beauty by Dana shot on film near the FLOAT artist residency– the amazing pelicans! I shall see you again soon x