500 Walks in the Woods by Jim Frazer

The ritual depicted in this book grew out of my daily walks in an urban natural area that began during the COVID pandemic. It recounts first how, as I crossed a bridge into the area, I found a place of safety. Then, in an effort to avoid other walkers, I went off the trail further into the woods and found myself entranced by letting my gaze melt into the maze of branches and leaves. Soon I found myself seeking the meditative calm this provided and contemplating my connection with the other-than-human surroundings. To express this experience in visual terms, I’ve used kaleidoscopic, mandala-like images made from reflecting pieces of images of the trees to symbolize the transformation of vision and perception that can occur when I stare quietly into the thicket. The viewer can manipulate the onlays provided with each image to see four different patterns form on each base image of the woods. They are held in place magnetically. The colored lines on the map show my path while walking.