ANN LINK – ARTIST STATEMENT

I spent the early years of my childhood in the rust belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio and witnessed firsthand the industrial decline and environmental degradation in those areas. On an elementary school trip boat tour on Lake Erie, I noticed that the lake was covered by a giant oil slick, and at one point, industrial waste in the Cuyahoga River actually caught fire. Post-industrial areas continue to fascinate me, and I have been inspired by the old and new structures along the Gowanus Canal close to where I live in Brooklyn. My interest in these prints is capturing the shapes and patterns and the decline and weathering of the structures as they are continually repurposed, whether for reuse or as a canvas for graffiti.