Leaving Evidence

I took inspiration from an episode of Radio Lab exploring “The Cataclysm Sentence”, which was a question posed by physics professor Richard Feynman - how to pass on as much information as possible in as few words as possible if civilization ceased to exist as we know it.

Looking into all the different ideas presented in the episode made me evaluate what aspects of me I value and would want memorialized. I realised most of those things are ephemeral. They won't last and that's the beauty of them. My relationships, my emotions, my stories; they aren't built to last. If looked at scientifically by archaeologists in the future I wouldn't be defined by any of those things. There's a sadness in that but it also made me value what won't last more. That is the sentiment I tried to recreate within the book.

I chose to use the form of a book because during my research I learnt that if humanity disappeared and you went as far forwards in time as the dinosaurs are back, books could survive but not the information in them. They could become charcoal bricks. This is what lead me to an interest in the idea of charcoal as an artifact and to explore the medium of burnt wood.