Kaabi-Linke takes inspiration from the forgotten or misused urban spaces around her. In this work she has captured the graffiti and other markings found on bus shelters and subway stations in Berlin, where she currently resides. Describing her project as “a kind of archaeology,” Kaabi-Linke records the marred and altered surfaces of these transit depots using forensic dusting powder, typically employed to gather fingerprints at a crime scene. She dusts the surface with the powder then picks up the residue with a film liner and transfers the visual traces onto sheets of Plexiglas, creating ghostly images of the original surfaces. The final works transform the vandalizing marks into evocative abstractions that preserve the activities of countless, anonymous individuals.
Gallery label from Abstract Generation: Now in Print, March 15–September 2, 2013.
