Unter den Linden (Palimpsest 1) was created in 2012 as an analogue photographic composition in which a Berlin cityscape dissolves straight architectural lines into a natural organic lines undergoing spring and uniting the two into a landscape. The layered exposure forms a visual palimpsest; traces of architecture interwoven with budding leaves and filtered light, capturing the coexistence of urban and organic rhythms.
In German cultural tradition, the linden tree carries deep symbolic meaning. Historically, linden trees were places of meeting and reconciliation, where communities gathered under their shade to deliberate and celebrate. They came to represent peace, justice, and social connection. The Berlin boulevard Unter den Linden, named after these trees, embodies this cultural memory as a site where art, politics, and public life have long intersected.
Palimpsest 1, is a work that also lends its name and conceptual foundation to the exhibition Palimpsest, in which each photograph functions as an overwritten surface of time, memory, and urban transformation. Together, these images read like pages in a living manuscript, where former states are never fully erased but remain visible beneath the present. Unter den Linden reflects on the duality of nature and culture, permanence and renewal, suggesting that even in the constructed city experience, the pulse of the natural world and the weight of shared history persist. In this merging of the urban avenue and the blossoming linden, the work becomes an homage to peace and continuity within the ever‑changing texture of the modern city.