2022
Under the Traces: Chinatown
Paper
Strathmore Text-24Ib
Binding
Kettle Stitched
Method Practiced
Scanned
Font
This book is set in a san serif typeface called Simvoni.
What under the present traces is the past that has been forgotten.
Under the Traces: Chinatown is an experimental book design that explores human histories through the perspective of traces. It records the criminal cases that have happened over the decades at Chinatown, catagorized by locations.
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.
Looking back, it's worth noting that whenever the public hears about crimes there, they might respond with strong emotions out of sympathy but might easily overlook details; for example, crimes have already happened repeatedly at the same location. Each of those activitives in the Chinatown contribute to the overlapping traces that constitute our history and memory and human interactions within this environment leave behind traces. Those traces are not direct evidence of the crimes, but they all record the stories of the residents there and imprints of time in Chinatown.
