'The Lasting Mark' is shaped by both research and personal reflection. The questions at its centre have stayed with me for a long time: why do people feel the need to leave a mark and what does it mean when those marks outlast the lives that made them? The project takes the form of a book that examines the human impulse to record themselves. It begins with personal acts of mark-making, then moves outward through history and culture, using examples such as cave paintings, Pompeii graffiti, public monuments, collective grief and the Voyager Golden Record. Through these different forms, it reflects on what it means to say, “I was here”. Drawing on psychology, history and cultural theory, including Continuing Bonds Theory and ideas of collective memory, The Lasting Mark brings together research and visual storytelling to create a work that is intended to be felt as much as it is read. Ultimately, the project explores presence and absence, the fear of being forgotten and the quiet ways people continue to leave themselves behind in the world.