Traces has been shown in buildings and basements across two Cities, Leicester and Nottingham. The letters of past generations, known and unknown to one another form a visual layering traced from past lives on a translucent paper creating a pall/ cocoon from which, through a ritualistic merging of lives, the audience emerges. Mirrors reflect audience’s reflections within a time and identity-questioning construct.


Why?
Our writing is unique and changing and defines something of us, like fingerprints after we are gone, or the paintings on cave walls. Men have studied handwriting for centuries as a sign of the workings of the human mind and heart. It is accidental art. We live our lives through a language passed down to us within families and communities, altered, and then re-delivered to others. We are created by a past witnessed by the written word, made possible by the communication and miscommunication of others before us.

Our words both join us together and set each one of us apart. We are inspired, confused or repulsed by them, we are made love to and governed using them. History is told in many ways, the records change with who holds the pen. ‘Traces’ is an invitation to re-write our sense of the present, challenging our concepts of time and identity.



Tracers form a web of words that they become part of, becoming aware, not only of their own tracings, but of other words, other people and themselves together in the shared space.They may also add other hand-written extracts that they themselves bring. The piece becomes a multi-layered maze,so viewers walk between the layers of words, light, shadow and and reflections. The traced echoes of the past and present etched and moving on their skin as they pass mirrors.

What now?
If you would like to be involved with the next installment or have a piece of writing you feel you would like to have traced into the membrane of 'Traces' please email me @ az_aycayia@hotmail.co.uk