WALK A DAY IN ARTIST’S SHOES AT BANKSTOWN ARTS CENTRE

For most people, walking is an everyday activity to keep your body moving and to get from one point to another.

But for conceptual artist Travis De Vries, walking means so much more.

His latest photographic collection on exhibition at Bankstown Arts Centre, Blak Flaneur, provides a unique perspective on the act of walking as an artistic practice.

“During COVID lockdowns, I needed to exercise so I picked up the camera and used it as an excuse to walk around my area, exploring different places. That morphed into an artistic passion,” De Vries said.

“With walking, the everyday person doesn’t realise that you’re situating yourself in the environment around you.

“A big part of my artistic practice is spending time in different landscapes and exploring that through photography – capturing my experience travelling through these spaces.”

De Vries’ cohesive collection of photographs taken while walking through multiple environments across NSW will be on exhibition until Saturday 2 March.

The exhibition also includes a sand experience, video and audio clips of environment visited, a sensational sensory experience for all who come along.

“I’m really excited to be working with Bankstown Arts Centre – the community of artists and people in Bankstown is incredibly vibrant,” De Vries said.

The exhibition is a part of Art Nights: Culture Alive, a program transforming Bankstown into a spectacular hub of music, dance, art and culture over three memorable nights.

De Vries’ work also features in the program’s interactive art walk, Hyperreal Amble.

His mural, titled Protection, with a layered augmented reality component, displays rendered First Nations shield designs, representing the work that Indigenous people across the globe are doing to protect land and space.

For more information on the Art Nights: Culture Alive program, visit cb.city/CultureAlive