Despite little prior travel experience, in 2004 fifty-seven-year-old Barbara Sherman decided to take a risk and, at a friend’s encouragement, begin planning a six-week journey on the Camino de Santiago through northern Spain. The pilgrimage came at a poignant period of transition for Sherman, after her retirement from a nursing career, and despite a breast cancer scare several weeks before she was due to travel, she began her Camino in May 2006. It was the first time she had undertaken a trip of this type and on this scale, and very soon after starting the Camino she decided to paint a series commemorating the journey upon its completion.
Each painting corresponds to one day of her walk, and through her experiences and memories Sherman presents a visual chronology of her Camino. The snapshots from each day that combine to form a single image range from the expansive to the miniscule and easy-to-overlook: breathtaking landscapes face tiny details, portraits of friends and fellow pilgrims juxtapose architectural studies, and there are as many observations of personal significance to the artist as there are records of important monuments along the route.
Sherman was not preoccupied with magnificent architectural settings or the centuries of religious traditions and remnant devotional rituals. Rather, hers was a journey in equal parts about self-discovery and human connection. Perusing her series will reveal no soaring cathedral interiors, no saintly relics, no glittering stained glass windows. What she does highlight are roadside gardens, community graveyards, albergue exteriors, groups of pilgrims gathered for coffee—in short, the personal side of the Camino de Santiago that will strike a chord of familiarity with fellow pilgrims, regardless of their national origin.
As Barbara found, even while on her journey, “a picture is multilingual.”
View full catalogue of paintings: Walking the Camino
About Barbara J. Sherman and Walking the Camino (coming soon!)