James Walker

Plane Spotting: Traverse 30 Days

Photo credit: Daniel Wilkins, Ross De Hoog and Lyn Nixon

“Living under a flight path, my interest in aviation and my father, who worked for an airline for 30 years, forced me to crane my neck skywards on a regular basis. You get to be quite the plane spotter with the ability to determine if everything was running on time.”

Having relocated from Launceston Tasmania the lack of noise from airliners was one of the first things Walker noticed in his Madora Bay house. There is still a disturbance of space from light aircraft and helicopters but not the drama of a low level approach or watching a landing light emerge through the atmosphere as the jets make their way down the Tamar Valley.

The traffic in the space above Walker now is lackadaisical. Machines move through the air without the determined focus of meeting a scheduled arrival and departure. This could be a metaphor for how Walker is living now. It’s not that Walker or the aircraft lack direction, they’re just making their own path to reach the destination.

Photo credit: Lyn Nixon

Walker’s practice is driven by nostalgia, memories, personal experience and the search for an aesthetic that ties these together. For the past 24 years Walker has been an active member of the arts community. Walker’s work has achieved recognition through winning prizes and selection as a finalist for major awards. As a young child Walker became fascinated with WW2 aircraft, which continues to be a driving force behind Walkers work. Attracted to place, the sense of belonging and the story telling associated with experiences of a landscape, Walker is always searching for a contemporary depiction of these themes.