Human Trace is an ongoing international photographic project exploring the marks we leave on the world around us. Beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic with a collection of over 300 photographs of discarded face masks, the project has evolved into a broader visual investigation of human presence in public space. From stickers and graffiti to abandoned objects, improvised repairs, urban decay and environmental pollution, each photograph documents a seemingly insignificant trace of everyday life. Individually, these marks often go unnoticed; collectively, they reveal how our actions gradually transform cities, landscapes and the environment. Conceived as a growing global archive, Human Trace invites contributors from around the world to document these traces, creating a collective portrait of our time and raising a simple question: What does our civilization look like through everything we leave behind?
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