Traces and trajectories of migration are equally central to Çavuşoğlu’s research in the Sonoran Desert, an active passage for people between Mexico and the United States, where those attempting to cross without the requisite paperwork traverse the sandy landscape wearing special shoes that leave no trace. Çavuşoğlu purchased a few pairs of such “carpet shoes” while traveling in Mexico and used their soles to generate marks on bark derived papers that appear in the exhibition, including amate, which has been produced in the Mexican state of Puebla since well before colonial contact through a process that transforms pulp from the inner bark of fig and mulberry trees.
*Excerpt from the press release by Rattanamol Singh Johal
Trail Goes Cold, 2022. Footprint with carpet shoe on Amate paper.
Each: 40×59 cm.
