SLOW COAST 500

Slow Coast 500 borrows its name from the North Coast 500 route designed to attract tourists to drive around northern Scotland. Slow Cost 500 considered the role of tourism in making (or breaking) places. Often intended as a boost to local economies, tourism can contribute to problems for local communities and their environment.

Throughout the walk, I used existing routes and explored new ones. Along the way, I carried an orange tablecloth the colour of an OS ‘Explorer’ map, using it as a picnic blanket to encourage conversation. Step by step and stitch by stitch, I embroidered it along the long way to the Scottish-English border, questioning the role and impacts of tourism today. I also sent a daily postcard home to Art Walk Projects in Portobello.

As part of the 2023 Art Walk Porty Festival visitors met me at Cramond Causeway joining me for the final stretch of the walk to Portobello, followed by a discussion at the Art Walk Hub to view my exhibition. I also led a workshop based on the orange tablecloth that I had carried throughout the coastal walk from Thurso and embroidered daily. Participants were given a piece of orange cloth on which to embroider a path of importance to them.

For more information about this project see Art Walk Projects.