Sabrina Gschwandtner, KAP Above 1028 White Plains Rd, Bronx, NY, 2017, ceramic pigment on glass, PS 583, Bronx

Sabrina Gschwandtner’s KAP Above 1028 White Plains Rd, Bronx, NY is a collage of 49 kite-related photographs installed above the main staircase in the lobby of PS 583 in the Bronx. Gschwandtner used a technique called ‘kite aerial photography’, or KAP, to capture images during the construction of PS 583. She arranged these site-specific photographs into a triangular patchwork with internet sourced KAPs archival Marshall Island navigation charts from the Smithsonian Institution Archives. She arranged these site-specific photographs alongside internet-sourced kite aerial self-portraits by hobbyists and archival navigation charts of the Marshall Islands from the Smithsonian. Each image is digitally printed on a triangular piece of glass, tiling a 72-foot kite ready for liftoff. 

When viewed from afar, the images break down into patchwork fields of blue and green. Up close, the kite strings across photos appear to be tied into a web of diverse landscapes and perspectives. Over time, viewers may begin to notice hidden details that recontextualize the image, a photographer standing on a frozen river, a Lowe’s store in the distant background, or a string configuration that resembles a cat’s cradle. These details provide entry points for the viewer to find new meanings across the piece and locate themselves within it.