José Garcia Oliva: Traces

Join us for a unique opportunity to celebrate the vital work cleaners do every single day. Led by artist, José Garcia Oliva, Lancaster University cleaning staff will create a unique artwork, with their mops, inside the University library.

Leave a mark, they said, leave a mark to be remembered. The mop water evaporates within seconds. No one counts those marks; they're invisible. But, as fast as the squeegee stains vanish on the glass, the recognition of the cleaners' work fades away and becomes invisible once more.

As we emerge blinking into the post pandemic world, this project aims to constantly remind us all how vital cleaners are to our hectic lifestyles. The final artworks will be displayed within the University's Library.

Join us on Thursday 24 February between 10-12 at the library, enjoy a coffee and a biscuit, chat to the artist and the cleaners and let each mark from each mop be visible to us all!

José Garcia Oliva: Biography
José is a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist and is based in London. Oliva's practice reacts to the hidden socio-political oppressions, exposing them through participatory performances or public interventions. The outcome of his work is usually the enactment effect of these social exchanges or provocations shaped by the commons, site-specificity and spontaneity. His practice is research-led and situated on the clash between identity, labour and place. He works with drawing, sculpture, participatory performance and writing. Oliva is a graduate from the Royal College of Art and currently teaches at Kingston School of Art and Ravensbourne University.