COMMON DESIRES/SMALL ACTS OF (BIPEDAL) RESISTANCE!

2019-2020

Common Desires/Small Acts of (Bipedal) Resistance! charts desire paths, or unsanctioned short-cuts, through densely populated neighbourhoods and civic spaces. Desire paths are formed by heavily repeated pedestrian traffic and do not obey formal pathway structures. These are often routes of expediency or practicality - unplanned, informal or unsanctioned pathways through an urban park or green space, for instance. I measure and chart each desire path with a trail marker or trail ‘artifact’ - lengths of thick white rope. I adhere gold leaf to sections of the rope/marker, playing with the idea of desire, turning the marker itself into a special object. I also include an identification label with observations and geographic details about each marker to give the sense that the desire paths had been ‘botanized’ or scientifically scrutinized. 

With this project, I hope to show desire paths as small acts of everyday resistance and rule-breaking in a populated area, reminding pedestrians that agency can be expressed through small actions and collective footfalls. More broadly, and as I add more and more Atlantic Canadian communities to the project, I want to draw awareness to notions of sanctioned versus unsanctioned routes, questioning how our region chooses, organizes, and brands official trails and pathways.

I would like to acknowledge the support of the Province of New Brunswick for this work.