The Chalk Path/Le Chemin de Craie
Folkestone Warren & Cap Blanc-Nez July-October 2024
A journey through the Deep Time of the chalk cliffs at their closest point across the Channel.
Here we stand, on the fragile edge of change… Our two lands were once one, the Sea has been here for less time than it has not, and North has not always been North… where do we fit into this cycle and what layer do we want our story to leave?
The Chalk Path began with searching for a way to express deep time and trying to understand where we fit in: we humans, so tiny compared to the epic scale of rock and sea, and yet, making an impact on the earth out of proportion to the time we have been here. It invites people to consider through their own bodies how we relate to the land and sea and to time itself, by literally walking down through time, through layers, strata… (a journey of several million years from the top to the bottom of the chalk cliffs), and ending at the beginning, at the sea, where they might find a new perspective on the journey, the place, and themselves.
A self-guided geo-located audio walk took audiences on a journey deep into the cliffs, starting from the youngest layer at the top and ending at the oldest layer- the sea, where they were invited to consider what layer they wished to leave on this landscape. The walk immersed the listener in the story of the cliffs and our ancient ancestors, the rocks; and gently questioned our place in it all, as newcomers to this earth. The journey was guided by hand-illustrated maps that sought to re-connect the two lands of England and France. Walkers could follow a route on the French or English side of the cliffs, in English or French language.
On Saturday 21st September we met the Autumn Equinox with an artist-led journey on two halves of the same land, at two edges of the same day. Alison and Élodie led a ceremonial version of the walk for a small group to make the journey together at sunrise in England and sunset in France. On the journey we wore two halves of the same cloak, created with pigments from the rocks pushed up from beneath the cliffs over winter – the layers of greensand, clay and chalk blending us into the landscape and merging with and separating us from each other. The walks ended with a ritual of building a cairn with our flint ancestors, setting an intention for the layer we want to leave for those who come after us.
A film that captures a flavour of the walk is available below.
As part of SALT+EARTH Festival 2024 and the Year of the Geopark, an immersive two channel film installation We Face Each Other was created through a collaborative process of walking and dialogue between Alison Neighbour and Gemma Riggs. It offers an alternative perspective on the simultaneous walk experience and re-unites the two chalk cliffs recently split by the Channel. The film installation consists of two vertical screens that show the cliffs and landscape at two sites: Abbotscliff in the UK and Cap Blanc Nez in France, both looking over at each other across the Channel. The film lets the cliffs take centre stage and narrate their own story, with audiences invited to let the power of the landscape wash over and through them. It is an accessible way into challenging terrain that asks the audience to simply be small and in awe of the place within which we exist. We are looking for opportunities to tour this installation in 2025/2026.
As we look to the future, we might look at the materials and way of living of our ancestors and try to slow down a little to planetary time to gain some perspective on our place in the world and the impact we are making. I hope the experience of The Chalk Path makes space for this.
Created in collaboration with/Créé en collaboration avec:
Film We Face Each Other – Gemma Riggs
Audio production for walk (UK) – Gemma Riggs
French text & performance for audio walk – Élodie Merland
Audio production for walk (France) Sébastien Cabour
Additional voice work by Susanna Howard & Sébastien Cabour
Additional audio production for film installation by Simon Duck
Publicity by Rhiana Bonaterre
Photographs by Igor Emmerich, Gemma Riggs, Tom Olney
Film of artist-led walk by Peter Blach (Klip Films) with additional footage by Tom Olney
With thanks to geological and ecological advisors Melanie Wrigley, Andy Gale, Simon Drake, Sanjeev Gupta & Alain Trentesaux; and to Folkestone NCI Coastwatch Station, and CROSS MRCC Gris Nez for allowing us to record their VHF transmissions.
Funded by Arts Council England, Parc naturel régional des caps et marais d’Opale, The Geologists Association Curry Fund, Folkestone Fringe, Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, and Kent Downs National Landscape.
The Chalk Path/Chemin de Craie was originally commissioned by Folkestone Fringe, Creative Folkestone and Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as part of SALT+EARTH Festival of Landscape, Seascape and the Environment 2022, and further developed with their support in 2023. The 2024 iteration is a further commission for SALT+EARTH Festival and the Year of the Geopark, in connection with the Kent Downs and Parc D’Opale bid to become a cross channel UNESCO Geopark. The work in France is is funded by the Green Fund, a scheme established by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion to accelerate the ecological transition in territories. It is intended to finance projects presented by local authorities and their public or private partners in three areas: environmental performance, adaptation of the territory to climate change, and improvement of the living environment.
