The Traces of Persistence
2024, UV print of hand-drawn map on plywood, instant films, wooden structure with found stones and debris
Installation dimensions variable; print 200 x 120cm; instant film 8.6 x 7.2cm x 50pcs
The Traces of Persistence is an exploration of the fluid boundaries between history, memory, and imagination. A large-scale map of the area surrounding Prinsep Street marks the attempt to both recall and record the landscape and our relations to it, drawing from fragmented historical sources, present observations, and imagined possibilities. Polaroid photographs that suggest traces of one’s life along Prinsep Street accompany the map, providing further clues to moments from an unknown time.
The act of trying to draw the map, of trying to remember, is as important as the map itself. By blending factual remnants with speculative imagination, I aim to bring attention to the gaps that exist in our understanding of the past, and the efforts we undertake to preserve what is constantly changing and will inevitably be lost to time. The map becomes a palimpsest, where the past, present, and future coexist, each influencing and reshaping the other.
This is the story of a man piecing together fragments of a life forgotten, tracing the contours of a world that is constantly fading away.
“Each day I wake up, the world is new again. I grasp at the edges of memory, trying to pull it into focus, but it slips away, as if my mind is made of water… Over and over again, I tried to trace my surroundings. There is a church; no, it is a school; no, it is a hospital; no, it is a hotel; no, it is a restaurant; no, it is a community centre; no, it is a house… These photos, scattered before me, seem to whisper stories I’ve long forgotten – stories that belong to a different time, a different world… a different life. I am no longer certain what I’m trying to do—am I recording or recalling? For what, and for whom?”