Forensic techniques aid artist in depicting domestic violence

Forensic techniques used to track domestic violence are transferred into an unique printmaking form by artist Nadia Kaabi Linke, whose recent work spotlights stigma, abuse and inequalities faced by women worldwide.
"I was developing a method of taking prints and I got interested in domestic crimes. I realised that this type of crime doesn't seem to be restricted to social stereotypes. It happens in all social classes and is not linked to gender or sex," Linke told PTI in an email interview.
The Tunisian-born artist was represented by Kolkata-based Experimenter Gallery at the second edition of the 5-day Art Basel Fair in Hong Kong, which began on May 14.

She won the 25,000 USD Discoveries Prize at the Fair for her artwork titled "In Confinement My Desolate Mind Desires", which employs Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture.
"It (domestic crime) is a kind of universal derelict and at the same time it is hidden behind the doors of privacy. One could call it a blind spot of modern societies," Linke said.
In her work "Impunities" (2010) she displays an unique form of printmaking that the artist has been exploring for many years.

Using forensic techniques Linke takes bodily impressions of wounds and scars from women who have been subjected to domestic violence. These impressions are then transferred onto a series of 28 glass panels that "contemplate the darkness behind the seemingly transparent and normal relationships that we are conditioned to portray."

"The idea for 'Impunities' came up while I was doing research about forensic techniques related to imprints. As my work is based on the gesture of taking prints I wanted to get into the method of recording trace evidences that are used in crime scene investigation environments," said the artists who now lives in Berlin.
Developed over months through personal interviews with abused women, married and otherwise, Impunities reflects on the confinement and suppression that social stigma, abusive relationships and gender inequalities enforce on women, all over the world.
"On this background I decided to use glass as material to conserve the fingerprint traces. Modern society seems to be organised by rationalism and one of its main goals is to achieve transparency in all fields to avoid corruption and repressions. Glass is the perfect medium to refer to this ideal of transparency," Linke said.

"It's less about human suffering as about the conditions of suffering that give shape to our contemporary world," the artist said.