Leaf Trace / Land Trace invites participants to step through a portal in time through the spaces occupied by trees. The project brings into focus the diffuse and extensive Public Land Survey System which has dictated wealth distribution and influenced a separation from nature since the time of the American Revolution for people living on the land know today as the United States. A powerful system hidden in plain sight that we interact with as roads and city blocks, and that was built with the aid of trees used to mark the corners of thousands of townships from Ohio west to the Pacific Ocean, is an accessible, free public monument revealing the underlying framework that continues to underpin systemic racism and chronic disconnection from nature.

Participant pick up a free booklet at a news kiosk and begin their self-exploration with a red pencil that asks “Can the system see itself?” The journey continues from there as participants follow a series of prompts and activities. Each person’s revelations relate to their ancestral background and personal history and make the project a powerful way to bridge communities who have very different experiences of the shared geographies.

Leaf Trace / Land Trace was created in 2020-21 in the depths of the pandemic and aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It was exhibited from July-December 2021 at Silverwood Park. In 2022, it was part of the international juried show Walk With Us at the Rochester Art Center. Over 2,000 copies of the booklets have made their way into the world via the project. Read the artist’s essay and find resources here.