SCOTS are being invited to share their personal love stories as part of a project that seeks to connect people across the globe.
Englishman Matt Hopwood is behind A Human Love Story, “a living collection of true love stories from around the world” that he collects gradually on long walks that have so far taken him through 1,500 miles of England, plus parts of France, Palestine and Israel.
“I have come to the passionate conviction that love stories can change the world,” he says. “And that sharing loving narratives can be a powerful tool for personal and social change.”
This month he has begun to add Scottish stories to that, with a walk beginning at Lindisfarne, in Northumberland that will take him hundreds of miles through Scotland and conclude at the Callanish stone circle on the Isle of Lewis.
He is encouraging Scots to meet him along the way.
The project began in 2012, when Hopwood set off on a walking journey through England. He was looking for the love stories of the land, and meet with people on paths, in fields, in pubs, and in villages and towns.
“Along the way I shared my stories with the people I encountered and they shared theirs with me,” he says, “creating time and space to explore the notion of love together.”
This year his journey will extend into Europe and beyond. “I’ve held sharings in diverse locations from opera houses to prisons, from the calm of a forest path to the busy rhythm of summer festivals, from the rural to the urban,” he says.
“I’ve listened to hundreds of love stories, and the online audio collection (which can be found at www.ahumanlovestory.com) has been listened to by more than 25,000 people in over 50 countries in every continent on the globe.”
The aim of A Human Love Story is to bring people from all over the world together and explore what we have in common and what draws us closer together. Hopwood is particularly interested in what unites those living in today’s post-Brexit world, and hopes the project will “draw on the kindness in humanity, to dissipate fear and bring down barriers”.
He hopes that his own travels across borders will facilitate connections that transcend prejudice and fear, adding: “We are a global family and this project aims to play a small part in expressing that oneness.”
So far his Scottish walk has taken him around Edinburgh, Bathgate, Livingston and the Borders. “The main pilgrimage will begin in March 2017, and continue into April and then potentially into 2018,” he says.
“I will go where I’m asked to go, responding to invites, connections and to those individuals who feel that this project is something they would like to engage with. I already have invites among communities and individuals in Edinburgh, including the Edinburgh Central Mosque, Glasgow, Uist and Stirling, and from dance groups, couples, and schools.
“I’d ask anyone who wants to connect with this piece of work to contact me by email at matt@ahumanlovestory.com. I would love to visit your community, to spend time with you and your communities, to share stories and connect.”
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