A SCOTTISH-based artist has completed his mammoth 'modern-day pilgrimage' to walk from Aberdeen to Venice in time for the 56th Biennale.
Anthony Schrag spent almost three months walking 1,500 miles to reach the Italian city yesterday.
The walk, commissioned by Huntly-based Deveron Arts, was set up as a work of art mirroring the endeavours of ancient pilgrims with the destination the "sacred site" of the art world.
Schrag, a Glasgow School of Art graduate, admitted he was relieved to have completed the trek, but said it had been worthwhile and that he was overwhelmed to reach the finish line.
He said: "It's hard to get used to not walking and I think it's going to take a few weeks for me to realise what I have achieved fully.
"The mental aspect of the walk was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and a lot of it was very, very lonely. There were days I would say about three words.
"But it has been a great experience and it is something that will always stay with me."
Schrag was born in 1975 in Zimbabwe, studied creative writing at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and undertook postgraduate studies in Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art in 2005.
His shows and exhibitions include There Shall Be Blood at Timespan in Helmsdale, Tourist in Residence at the Edinburgh Art Festival and Rebelland at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow (2007).
The 39-year-old set off in June from Huntly and walked across Britain and France before crossing the Alps and continuing on to Italy.
He walked on the roads and on paths and farm tracks that criss-crossed the countryside, navigating by map and GPS.
The project was conceived after Deveron Arts proposal for Scotland’s show at the Biennale was rejected, and explores the art world's relationship with the Biennale.
The artist said: "My work is ephemeral and revolves around social interaction, so this walk was very much about looking at the juxtaposition with that and the object-based world of galleries and sales that the Biennale represents.
"The art has been the walk, and I've met with lots of random strangers and stayed with hosts and talked to them about the project.
"The route has followed that taken by ancient pilgrims on the way to Rome and I suppose the walk is asking questions about the way Venice is a sacred site for artists."
Scotland is being represented by Graham Fagen, a lauded Glasgow-based artist in a show curated by Hospitalfield Arts of Arbroath in Angus at this year's Biennale.
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