— Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape, Lauret SavoyIn her essays, Lauret Savoy combines family history with geologic time: childhood memories of the Grand Canyon, desert and coasts of California; retracing her father’s work while also describing the alluvial plains and glaciation that created the Great Lakes. She explores how the land is marked and the inscribed histories found in individuals. In my project, I create a bridge between geology and genealogy. By using geology as a metaphor for the past of each individual, I investigate the history of our personal lives. How can we be the geologist of our ancestry? Mountains are formed by accumulations of sediments through time. We, also, have a story before the one we build: what are our roots? How much the past is inscribed in ourselves? From what do we take our identity? I assimilate stones as a representation of each personal story which I collect as you collect family archives and memories.
To my ancestors:
Comment as-tu vécu la perte de ton enfant? Pourquoi ta marraine t'as élevé à la place de mes arrières-grand-parents? Qu'as tu ressenti lorsque tu as tué un humain? Comment as-tu vécu le décès de ton mari? Comment était mon grand-père? As-tu un souvenir que tu ne souhaiterais jamais oublier?
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