About the archive

What remains after context has been interrupted

Purpose

Ordinary Traces is interested in what remains after context has been interrupted. It records commonplace objects without treating them as rubbish, treasures, or proof of a particular story. The archive preserves what can be observed while leaving room for what cannot be recovered.

An object does not have to be valuable to have survived something. It does not have to reveal its story to show that a story is missing.

How records are kept

What is recorded: Photographs, measurable description, materials, condition, and the circumstances of the encounter as far as they can be established.
What is marked uncertain: Anything reported, inferred, or remembered. It appears separately and is never presented as fact.
What stays unknown: Owners, dates, and histories that cannot be established. An empty field is left empty rather than filled in.

Respectful documentation

Nothing is published that carries private identifying information, exact locations that could put people or property at risk, human remains, active crime-scene material, or objects that should be returned to an identifiable owner.

Where a location could identify a private residence or place a property at risk, only an approximate area is published, or the location is withheld entirely. If an object can be returned to an identifiable owner, it is not published.

The archive grows only as objects are encountered and photographed.

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Correspondence

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Questions about the archive, a possible entry, or a request regarding a published object can be sent here directly.