Traces, 2020-2022 / In collaboration with the cleaners Julie Haygarth, Janette Nelson, Phillipa Whitehead, Linda Buttle, Rinku Shaw, Agnieszka Stankiewicz, Elzbieta Orczykowska, Martin Bennett, Angela Joss, Amanda Dixon, Angela Chesters, Josie Platt, Jake Haygarth, Yvonne Rawcliffe, Christine Southern and Mariola Orawiec, working at Lancaster University.
Specifications
Acrylic on canvas
Various dimentions
Description
This is a year-long, research-based project shaped by conversations with cleaners at Lancaster University. The resulting work is a collective, performative painting created by 82 cleaners in the University Library, using their own mops. Each mark on the canvas traces the distinctive movements they perform while cleaning (sweeping arcs, circular scrubs, and rhythmic repetitions)
transforming routine gestures into the visual composition. The colour is a reference to the university’s colour-coded cleaning system for public areas. The final painting stands as a visual archive of these encounters, now permanently installed in the Library as a monument to the cleaners labour.
Traces was supported and commisioned by Lancaster Arts
ReportTo read the full report, click here.