Maria Marshall

Maria Marshall (born 1966) an English-Swiss artist born in Mumbai, India. She became known for her video work in the late 90's, working mostly with children. Her recent works include "Thought", an alter ego character who can infiltrate the mind and replace thoughts. Based on meditation, this is a multimedia work which includes video, photography, painting and sculpture.

Biography Maria Marshall was born in Mumbai, India. Today, she lives and works in Berlin. A dual Swiss and British citizen, she holds a degree in sculpture from the Wimbledon College of Arts in London. She has also studied at the Chelsea College of Arts in London and the Geneva School of Fine Arts.

Work

Art The general atmosphere of her films is reported to be dreamlike and agonizing. She takes on moral and psychological issues, using digital illusions and creates pieces that, projected as installations, are striking for the spectator's mind. The intention, she says, is not to shock, but to provoke the viewer through a seductive image, to ask themselves what makes them feel uncomfortable.

Her films often revolve around the world of childhood, projecting adult concerns. She stages them in situations that make the adult viewer uncomfortable. Innocence itself becomes ambiguous. It perverts these "taboo" subjects, childhood, innocence, oscillating between good and evil, between sacred and profane. Children or adolescents are always threatened, confronted with evil, alone in the face of danger. This reflects the anguish of a mother for her children. Her videos, she says, include her paranoia as a mother 2,3,4.

Marshall has recently created an alter ego super heroine character, "Thought" she uses to investigate. Her emotionally charged films eradicate war, by erasing thought, silencing "Thought", investigating meditative spaces, such as the Everest series. "Thought" dances at a Mount Everest base camp—a freedom dance, Sufi whirling all around the world and painting the noise around the mind as in Stille and Flak shown at Art Loft Berlin, Werkhalle Wiesenburg, Berlin. In Hair Sweet Hair, a site specific exhibition on the implication of hair on "Thought" includes paintings, sculptures and photography.

I Saw You Crying. A teenager laughs in slow motion in front of a billowing yellow curtain. He raises a gun and shoots towards the camera. The curtain turns red, as the boy cries.

Trout. A child pedals forward on a tricycle with a sign that says "Love Me". As he cycles forwards through the public they walk backwards.

Cyclops. Video installation. Two videos projected together in a corner. A woman in underwear is on one screen, a child in a vest on the other. The camera revolves around them like a predator in their cold rooms. The woman is lit in a sequence of disturbing lights. There seems to be a longing from one screen to the other to dispel the separation. The sound is recorded from the camera, an ominous sound that matches the movement. The motion control rig is called "Cyclops" the film is consequently titled Cyclops.

Playground. A teenager plays football in slow motion against a church. The ball is removed, but the shadow continues to play. The sound of the ball hitting the wall and the boy's effort is amplified, making it resonate. The boy kicks the ball around the Church like an object. This work is anti establishment.

Don´t let the T Rex Get The Children. The video begins with a close-up of a child's face. They lick the screen and then smile. As the camera reveals the child's face in incongruous rapturous laughter, the viewer, first discovers his shaved head and then a bright green straight jacket and a velvet padded cell. These discordant elements are disturbing as they play with our suspension of disbelief.

Residencies awarded Auckland print residency, New Zealand, KAUS Australia. Rotterdam. Wapping Project residency, Bethanien, Berlin. St.Moritz Art Academy.

Juries 2017, Pratt film students for inclusion in Bam cinema