Trace

Trace involved wrapping a long paper scroll around my entire studio space and painting countless swallows in flight using calligraphy ink and brush.

 

The motivation for this work came from a chat with my classmates: at the beginning of the semester, they often could not find me in the studio, yet they could sense my presence through the changing arrangement of objects in that space. “We can only see your trace,” they said. This observation stayed with me—it suggested that my presence in the space could be perceived through movement and residue rather than direct visibility.

 

The process of making Trace was physically repetitive. I admit that boredom often accompanied the act of painting, yet this repetitive action is similar to the migration of swallows. Both involve a clear destination, the distant home of the swallows or the other end of my paper. Our task is simply to repeat the same actions over and over—flapping wings and making strokes.