Trace is an investigation of the modifications of five sites by the members of Shift-lab (Katie Baldwin, Denise Bookwalter, Sarah Bryant, Macy Chadwick and Tricia Treacy). Single sheet structures represent locations in Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and the United Kingdom. An accompanying map visually represents sound recordings made on site. These recordings were digitally translated and interpreted visually by Denise Bookwalter.
Katie Baldwin: Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
A 3,700 acre fenced-in Army post, formerly a chemical weapons manufacturing facility for World War II, and currently the home of NASA. It is a testing sight where reverberations echo through residential neighborhoods and city traffic patterns are defined by the volume of commuters who work there. As a civilian, I cannot enter the Arsenal. However, I walked along the fence that lies along the perimeter of the land.
Sarah Bryant: Brighton Marina, UK
The largest marina in Europe, a strange space between land and sea. I immersed myself for months in the quiet rhythm of the place, and later revisited through newspaper clippings, promotional materials and public notices dating to its design and construction in the 60’s and 70’s. Printed using chalk from the surrounding cliffs.
Denise Bookwalter: Ochlocknee Clay Mine, Georgia
A surface mine in southeast Georgia that mines absorbent clay used for chemical processing and kitty litter. The clay is found in deposits trending northwest across the Florida panhandle into southern Georgia. I traveled 43.8 miles from my home to tour the mine, the same trip my husband takes across the state line every weekday.
Macy Chadwick: Sage Path, Taos, New Mexico
A changing topography of cracked dirt, enormous ant hills, rings of grasses where cows once grazed, gnarled sticks, bright green grasses and a variety of different sagebrush. I breathed in the wide open spaces and looked for patterns and repeated shapes in the landscape.
Tricia Treacy: Sugar Mountain, North Carolina
With 115 skiable acres over 20 runs, an elevation of 5300 feet at the summit, 4100 at the base, I mapped the demolition of the land during the construction of a new high speed lift.
