Community Corner

1 Year and 9K Miles Later, Greg Hindy Speaks

Some Performance: A vow of silence, a 9,000-mile walk across America, photography and the generosity of strangers.

Back when Greg Hindy was a baby and just learning to walk, he would roll a ball back and forth across the floor, then crawl to it and repeat the process. His first word was "ball," according to his parents.

Spring forward a couple decades. Greg Hindy just finished walking across America with a large format camera and a vow of silence. What would his first words be this time? 

Hindy concluded his 9,000-mile journey – "One-Year Performance: Walking, Silence" – on his 23rd birthday last week in Los Angeles. He has since produced a video capturing his first spoken words since July 9, 2013.

Watch his before-and-after videos.

Hindy, a Nashua High and Yale graduate, gives an emotional and inspiring summary of the trip.

He says the past year was about many things, including devotion to an idea, patience, thirst, endurance, solitude, and "about being hardened by pavement" and "humbled by rain." 

"It's about 9,000 mile markers ticking by like the hands on clocks," Hindy says.

As he writes in part on the video link: "The video here is of my last and first words, the space between is yours to fill. This act of art making was titled in recognition of the performance artwork of Tehching Hsieh." 

Hindy more than likely walked more than 9,000 miles, given his side trips, according to his father, Carl Hindy, who chronicled the project on Facebook and kept people informed while his son eschewed social media and technology as part of his project.

The "One-Year Performance: Walking, Silence" project has concluded, but Hindy plans to keep walking. He will be walking back home to New Hampshire, this time without the vow of silence.

Related stories:

Hindy's Cross-Country Cross-Country 'Silent Walk' Approaches Half-Way Mark

Hindy on the Lewis & Clark Trail

One Year Vow of Silence for Nashua Yale Grad


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