On a June morning in 2024, a group of artists travelled to the Forest of Luffness in East Lothian. Within the forest lay the remains of a medieval Carmelite friary where a broken arch still stands, and beneath it the stone effigy of a crusader, worn by time almost beyond recognition. Artist Rose Strang had visited the forest before and invited others to return with her, among them Richard Demarco CBE, then in his ninety-third year.

Traces is the work that emerged from that day: a series of paintings by Rose Strang and a 25-minute documentary film by Manuel Pennuto created between June 2024 and December 2025. Together, they respond to the forest, the friary, and what survives across time; in landscape, in stone, and in the human capacity for both destruction and reconciliation.

 

T R A C E S  F I L M  T R A I L E R

 

 

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Creative Roles | Traces

Rose Strang – Project lead, artist, producer, scriptwriter, narrator, music (voice)

Manuel Pennuto – co-producer, director of the Traces documentary, cinematographer, editor

Adam Brewster  – camera, animation, Traces music arrangements (incl’ recorder and arrangement of Bryd one Brere)

Robert De Mey  – writer

Jacob Olah – music (guitar)

With

Richard Demarco CBE – artist, writer, teacher; Director of the Demarco Gallery, Director and founder of the Demarco Archive Trust (Wikipedia | Demarco Archive)

Terry Ann Newman – artist, Director of the Demarco Archive Trust

Further Reading

Rose Strang: The Forest of Luffness – interview by Robert De Mey, Art-Scot

The Medieval Way of Seeing – essay by Rose Strang