Gestural Traces and Material Memory is a collection of transcribed stories and drawings of accompanying hand gestures.

Stories were shared by residents of a retirement home in Schaumburg, Illinois. The idea of home and our experiences of home provide the springboard for these stories, as the extended isolation and loss experienced during the pandemic has changed the ways in which we think about home. This project seeks to serve as a point of social engagement through listening, sharing, and connecting personal to collective memory.

The stories told in this project are shared by members of a choir at a retirement home. The text and drawings provide the source material for music that the choir performs. Music is composed by Amy Wurtz.

Many thanks to Sue Young, the choir director, Barbara Hershberger, Charles, Rea Moody, Sis Kealey, Judy Malin, Julia, Allan Anderson, Susan Anderson for generously sharing their stories, and to Carla Smith for helping to facilitate the conversations and performance.

This project is partially supported by an Individual Artist Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

This project is partially supported by The Hambidge Center where many of drawings for this project were created during a 2022 residency.