Threads and Traces by Lea Durie

Durie orients herself with the form of a place, the tracks, the contours, interventions and possession, through maps. She wayfinds, creates paths, shortcuts, connections and builds her knowing of the place. Durie says "I leave traces where I walk, threads of the stories I weave."  "What I see in the streets I walk is not the full story of a place.  We each tell our own story.  Not all our stories make it onto the map. " What of the other stories? Stories of women, children. The stories of Australia's first inhabitants. What of the stories of the forests that existed, the flora and fauna? The losses and the celebrations, the personal journeys. The precious places. What traces remain of these stories? What threads can one follow to understand more? Threads and Traces takes you on a journey through a place you know, on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, through the suburbs of Canberra.  It explores this through the deep-time materiality of wild clay. Going beneath the surface on a sensory engagement with place Durie seeks out the threads of stories held in this ancient material.