Rootless manoeuvres

>>Travelling Light portrays the travels
and travails of nomadic artists

by MALCOLM FRASER

Many of us, at one point or another in our lives, have idly dreamt of pulling up roots, abandoning the stresses of the urban rat race and devoting ourselves to a life of exploring the world and pursuing some kind of deeper meaning. The number of people who actually do this is fairly small—for a number of reasons, but primarily because the comforts of our materialistic culture are hard to actually give up. Anyone who’d like a close-up look at the nomadic lifestyle should check out Montreal-based Tamás Wormser’s new documentary, Travelling Light: Artists on the Move.

The film portrays the journeys and everyday lives of five artists who spend their days wandering the globe in search of their elusive creative goals: sculptor Christina Hagmann; jeweller Jimmy Fachetty; Lundo, lead singer of Montreal-based travelling caravan The Chango Family; Hungarian-born painter László Kuli, who exiles himself to a tent in the Northern Quebec woods in winter, and photographer Nathalie Daoust, whose international travels lead her to a Brazilian favela for a project on sex workers. They discuss their work, their philosophies, the motivations for their wandering ways and the struggle between the irresistible call of the road and the natural impulse to eventually settle down.

Although the portrayal is generally sunny, Wormser doesn’t shy away from the darker sides of nomadic life: the loneliness, the alienation from “normal” society and the occasional indication that this lifestyle might be an elaborate way of avoiding personal responsibility. One thing that doesn’t get addressed is the economic factor.

Essentially, there are three types of person who can live this kind of life: those who can voluntarily accept a life of abject poverty, those with large reserves of independent wealth and those who are particularly clever at acquiring arts funding.

The artists in the film all seem to fall into one category or another, but the issue is never brought up, and without it, the perspective is still somewhat romanticized.

That said, anyone who’s entertained the notion of ditching our cubicles and hitting the open road will undoubtedly be intrigued by this spirited portrait, a glimpse at a tempting subculture that beckons us to follow if we dare.

Travelling Light opens this
Friday, April 4

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