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Leaving No Traces
Shared by Linnea Axelsson | Traced by Ngartia Mũrũthi
Image: Vaerie Saiva (2024) - by Tomas ColbengtsonWhat is the practice of no traces? This course reflects on how not leaving traces in Sámi various ways of life can allow for spiritual rather than materialistic relations with one’s surroundings and environment. “Leaving no traces” also means not knowing and not engaging with things that are so forcibly and violently built into the world - there is a lot of violence in constructing and acquiring knowledge. What, then, can be there, when there is no trace? In building other types of relationships, one may seek in this instance the space inside the self, where an inner trace can be left.
Linnea Axelsson is a Sami-Swedish poet and novelist. After completing her doctorate in art history at Umeå University in 2009, Axelsson made her debut as a writer in 2010 with the novel Tvillingsmycket (Twin Jewellery). She received the Svenska Dagbladet Literature Prize and the prestigious August Prize for her epic poem Ædnan (2018). Its 2024 English translation by Saskia Vogel was nominated for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. Axelsson’s latest book, Sjaunja, a poetry collection, was published in 2024.
Ngartia Mũrũthi is a storyteller with interest in different media. He has pursued tales through poetry, screenwriting, acting and short stories. His work in orature has explored Kenyan History on stage, gaining prominence through a series of productions named Too Early For Birds—which he co-founded. Ngartia has performed around East Africa and is currently dipping into writing musicals under the NBO Musical Theatre Initiative. His most recent project is Dai Verse, a two-hour long poetry based theatre production that premiered in 2024. He is based in Nairobi, examining how our stories define identity, while sipping on black tea.
