Collectors of Traces is a reflection on the relationship between individuality and belonging. It also concerns appropriation and the documentation of physical traces of invisible memories. The work is part of my doctoral research project at Hasselt University and PXL-MAD School of Arts, Hasselt (BE), which is funded by the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University (BOF21DOC04).

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As part of the project, I distributed machine-made rings (for a certain time) to various people.
There are two versions of this project. In one, I selected the participants from among my acquaintances. These individuals wore their rings for a period of one year. In the second version, I did not select the participants: the rings were distributed anonymously as part of a cultural event at the Baltimore Jewelry Center (US). Here, the participants only wore the rings for a period of 4–6 weeks.
For both projects, participants decided how often they wore their rings. At the end of the pre-determined time, the rings were to be returned to me so that I could document and continue to work with the surface traces that were caused by wearing the rings. The results are various prints showing (5x enlarged) traces of the surfaces.
The prints based on the shorter, second version show etchings of the (complete, 5x enlarged) ring surfaces. These etchings were exhibited publicly for the first time at the Baltimore Jewelry Center from 29 April 2023 to 11 May 2023. Each participant was able to pick up a print of their ring surface traces as a thank you.
The prints, based on the first, longer version of the project, were made during an artist residency at Künstlerhaus Lukas in Ahrenshoop (DE). In contrast to the Baltimore prints, here, I decided not to work with the entire surface but to create three-colour linoleum prints showing two square (5x enlarged) sections of the surface per ring. Again, each participant received a print of their ring surface.
Interestingly, the two versions of the project showed clear differences in the surface traces of the rings. These concerned not only the intensity but also the character of the traces.

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Years: 2022–2023

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