I was very privileged to join Guy Lougashi of PaperLab in Loulé, Portugal on a paper camp residency in September 2025. A small group of paper makers and sculptures met for the first time to work on our creative skills hosted by Guy in the beautiful art centre of Loulé Criativo. I have really amazing memories of a rich and nurturing period there…and I am planning a return trip as soon as I possibly can.
During my time there I was investigating the traces left behind following moments of engagement—whether fleeting or prolonged, deliberate, accidental or even silent. Observing the marks that emerge from interaction and repetitive gestures, and capturing these imprints as records of presence. This inquiry considered papermaking, mark-making and printing, in combination with other materials, as a way of revealing the layered residues of connection and movement.
Marks as whispers of presence
Tracing the echoes of our presence—the marks left behind in moments of contact and exchange, whether fleeting or profound. Each interaction carries with it a residue: a gesture repeated, a movement etched into surface or memory. These traces are captured through paper, thread, mark-making and print, weaving them with other materials, allowing the unseen rhythms of encounter to become visible.
The work continues into 2026…
Marks as whispers of presence,
shadows of touch and passage.
Brief or lingering,
accidental or chosen,
gestures repeat themselves into matter.
Traces gather,
layer upon layer,
as if the body were writing in silence.
Through print, through surface,
through the weaving of other materials,
I follow these residues—
the quiet cartography of encounter.
Thanks for Guy and my creative colleagues for an amazing residency and thanks to Gisele Muenzner for the images.