The pilot study for the Reading Hohenschönhausen project happened in the winter of 2017 during an artist residency in Berlin. I was continuing my research on carved graffiti and visited the Stasi prison memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, where I saw markings on the walls and in books left by political prisoners from about 1982-1989. The markings deal with freedom, waiting, 80s culture, and reactions to imprisonment. The Reading Hohenschönhausen project re-envisions the entire prison as a text: a place with many authors, presented as an art installation, performance and publication.

Instead of proceeding with a coordinated art project, I enrolled with my research as a case study for a doctoral degree in Classical Archaeology at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. It is due to be finished in July 2024.

In November 2021 I returned to the prison memorial, gave a colloquium about my work and completed the catalog of wall markings, now roughly 300 in total. These anonymous markings present counter narratives to modern German history.