Mythogeographer Phil Smith, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Performing Arts at the University of Plymouth, UK, artist-in-residence at Carleton last spring 2016, has been walking, exploring, photographing, filming, talking and writing for almost 20 years.
In his new book, Anywhere, A Mythogeography of South Devon and How to Walk It (Triarchy Press, 2017), Professor Smith walks and writes as Cecile Oak, a young PhD student of Symbolist art and performance. This is the first detailed mythogeographical survey of a defined area, South Devon, focusing on the place, the landscape, the buildings, the history and the people. It sets in motion its subject’s geological instabilities, deep political fissures, legends and monsters, street generosities and unexpected histories. Anywhere is also a way of looking and feeling: a lesson in how to be (and walk) in your own place, village, city, countryside, wilderness: a guidebook for anywhere… including Northfield.
Check out videos of Professor Smith’s May 2016 walking tour of Northfield, A Blazing Worlds Walk, produced and shot by CAMS Professor Paul Hager.