Traces of Us

Project Info

Projects of 2025
Information Experience Design
Individual work
Azizza Drianti Putr
London, United Kingdom

About the Project

My final master’s project, a collective documentary installation that explores the lived experiences of immigrant traders displaced by the demolition of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre in London. As the area undergoes rapid redevelopment, these traders, whom many have been rooted there for decades, face forced reallocation and the loss of their long-standing community presence.

Presented as a multi-channel video installation, the work immerses viewers in a layered soundscape of resilience, longing, and advocacy. Each screen tells a different yet interconnected story, creating a spatial narrative that moves across time and voice. The project anchored in three temporal phases: memory, present reality, and future hope, it functions as both a living archive and a platform for visibility. It reflects on what these spaces once meant, captures the emotional weight of their ongoing struggles, and opens a dialogue around equitable urban futures.

By weaving documentary footage with spatial storytelling, the work invites audiences to engage not only with the socio-political issues of displacement but also with the human stories often left out of redevelopment narratives.

The stories come from three shop owners: two who were relocated due to the redevelopment, and one who remained in place but bore witness to the transformation and its ripple effects on the community. I deliberately selected these individuals to reflect a diversity of cultural backgrounds and business types, each offering a distinct lens on how urban change affects people in layered and deeply personal ways.

Story 1: Above the View

Story 2: Behind the Clads

Story 3: Below the Arch

Final Installation