WEIHE LI

Under the traces:
Chinatown

Paper
strathmore text-24Ib paper

Binding
kettle stitched

Method
hand-scanned pages and photography

Typeface
this book is set in a san serif typeface called Simvoni.

Under the Traces: Chinatown is an experimental book design that explores human history through the perspective of traces. It documents criminal cases that have occurred over the decades in Chinatown, categorizing them by location and pairing them with images of the present-day sites.

Chinatown, as one of the most populated boroughs, is a miniature of NYC, gathering a diverse group of people and boasting a long tradition of cultural exchanges. It is where many immigrants settle down to start their new lives in NYC. Over time, people come and go, leaving Chinatown with the new and the old: stickers over graffiti, posters over scratched walls, among many other traces. Things lay on top of each other, and the new covers the old. Similar to the physically layered stickers and posters accumulating over time, crimes continually overwrite the latest incidents, mirrored by the recurring sirens echoing around the area.

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