Hamish Fulton
Nature & Walking
12 September to 24 October 2026
Opening: Saturday 12 September 3 - 8pm
Artist Talk at 4pm
“Standing still, at the end of all movement upwards, it was and is difficult to believe. I eventually forced two sentences into my mind, “Respect the mountain” and “Long live the Dalai Lama”.That I had these thoughts is impossible to prove. The words were rehearsed, they were not perceptions or conclusions influenced by the summit experience. The task was simply to remember them. At this altitude, even with the benefits of bottled oxygen, my brain - was in unfamiliar territory. I was stunned, but conscious of feelings without words that drifted somewhere between memory and the physical limits of this small snow covered summit. I was brought back to a responsive state by Ang Dorje, our lead Sherpa guide, who shouted out the clear instruction, “Time to go down”. In those last minutes before departure, I managed to take two photographs. I accepted that my camera might not function and Iʼd have no summit images. Luckily, they were not necessary as proof of my being there.”
- Hamish Fulton on the summit of Mount Everest from Hamish Fulton The Uncarved Block
SCHOOL is pleased to present Nature & Walking, an exhibition by Walking Artist Hamish Fulton. No artistic practice has a more authentic relationship with nature, walking allows an experience of nature in its purest form. Fulton’s art objects act as statements, bold textual works laying out the facts of the artists experiences, or photographic records of experiences and events. Neither detracts from the other but without walking nothing else would exist.
Hamish questions our impact on nature. He states: “I call myself a Walking Artist. Walking is the best way I know of for becoming directly acquainted with nature, outdoors. Active human respect for nature, at this moment in world history is of the ultimate importance”. He continues; “As a walking artist existing in this period of Earth History and as a ʻsymbolic gestureʼ of respect for nature I follow the restraining principles of the hiking philosophy and practice - To Leave No Trace... One intention being... to acknowledge, rather than disregard... The Rights of Nature.”
Hamish Fulton studied at Hammersmith College of Art, St. Martinʼs School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. Solo exhibitions include Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Spain, 2021, MAN Museo dʼarte della Provincia di Nuoro, Italy, 2015, Ikon Gallery, UK, 2012, Turner Contemporary, UK, 2012, Museion, Italy, 2005, Tate Britain, UK 2002, and Museu Serralves, Portugal, 2001.
Major group exhibitions include the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany, 2022, the Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala City, Mexico, 2016, Schaulager, Basel, Switzerland, 2015, MOCA, Los Angeles, USA, 2012, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 2011, CAPC – Musee dʼart contemporain, Bordeaux, France, 2002, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Australia, 2000, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA, 2000, and Documenta 5 and 6, Germany, 1977; 1982.