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Maria Marshall
Maria Marshall Portrait.jpg
Marshall in 2018
Born
Maria Marshall

1966 (age 58–59)
Bombay, Mumbai, India
Nationality British, Swiss
Education Chelsea College of Arts
Wimbledon College of Arts, London
Known for Artist
Notable work
 When I grow up I Want To Be a Cooker (1998)

Maria Marshall (born in 1966) is a talented artist from England and Switzerland. She was born in Mumbai, India. Maria became well-known in the late 1990s for her video art, which often featured children. Her newer projects include a character called "Thought." This character can enter people's minds and change their thoughts. Her work on "Thought" is inspired by meditation and uses videos, photos, paintings, and sculptures.

About Maria Marshall

Maria Marshall was born in Mumbai, India. Today, she lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She is a citizen of both Switzerland and Britain. Maria studied sculpture at the Wimbledon College of Arts in London. She also attended the Chelsea College of Arts in London and the Geneva School of Fine Arts.

Exploring Maria Marshall's Art

Her Unique Art Style

Maria Marshall's films often feel like a dream, but they can also be a bit unsettling. She explores big ideas about right and wrong, and how people think and feel. She uses digital tricks to create art pieces that are shown as installations. These installations really make viewers think.

Her films often show the world through the eyes of children. However, they deal with grown-up worries. She puts children in situations that might make adult viewers feel a little uncomfortable. The idea of innocence in her films can seem a bit unclear. Children or teenagers in her art often face danger or feel alone. Maria says these videos show her own worries as a mother for her children.

Her artworks are still shown all over the world. One place is the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Sometimes, her work has been used by people online to make their videos seem more exciting.

The Character "Thought"

Maria Marshall recently created a new superhero-like character named "Thought." She uses "Thought" to explore different ideas. Her powerful films aim to stop war by changing thoughts. "Thought" helps to quiet the mind and explores peaceful places, like in her Everest series. In one piece, "Thought" dances at a Mount Everest base camp. This is a freedom dance, like Sufi whirling, happening all over the world. She also paints the "noise" around the mind, as seen in her works Stille and Flak. In Hair Sweet Hair, an exhibition about how hair affects "Thought," she included paintings, sculptures, and photos.

How She Creates Her Art

Maria often has her own children act in her films. This makes the artwork feel very real and strong. She is very careful about how she makes her art. She pays close attention to the materials she uses, the lighting, and how she frames each shot. Maria uses special techniques like repeating scenes (loops), zooming in, and slowing down the action. These methods help to make her films feel more intense and sometimes a bit obsessive.

The names of her artworks, like When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A Cooker, are often sentences her children have said. The sound in her films is sometimes just a child's voice repeating a phrase, like "I Love You Mummy, I Hate You." Or, it might be a loud, spooky sound, like the missing ball hitting a chapel wall in Playground. Maria also uses silence in a powerful way.

The look of her art can remind you of old paintings. For example, I Should Be Older Than All of You shows a young boy lying still and calm in a box. Snakes are around him. This artwork's careful setup is like the style of Baroque paintings. This connection to old Western art can make her films even more surprising.

Selected Video Artworks

Early Works

  • When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Cooker (1998): This video shows a two-year-old child pretending to smoke a cigarette and blowing perfect smoke rings.
  • I Saw You Crying: A teenager laughs slowly in front of a yellow curtain. He then points a gun towards the camera. The curtain turns red as the boy starts to cry.
  • Trout: A child rides a tricycle forward with a sign that says "Love Me." As the child pedals, people around them walk backward.
  • Cyclops: This is a video installation with two videos shown in a corner. One screen shows a woman, and the other shows a child. The camera moves around them like a hunter in their cold rooms. The woman is lit with strange lights. It feels like the two screens want to connect. The sound is from the camera, a spooky noise that matches the movement. The special camera rig used was called "Cyclops," so the film got the same name.

Later Works

  • Playground: A teenager plays football slowly against a church. The ball is removed, but its shadow keeps playing. The sound of the ball hitting the wall and the boy's effort is made very loud. This makes the sound echo. The boy kicks the ball around the Church as if it were just an object. This work questions authority.
  • I Should Be Older Than All Of You (2000): This film uses a special camera to show a child's chest breathing. The camera slowly pulls back to show the child lying still in a box of red and orange silks. The way it's set up is very precise, like a Donald Judd sculpture, and the colors are like Rothko paintings. As the camera shows the full picture, snakes are seen slithering in the gold silk edges. They look like an old painting frame. The snakes move towards the child, who stays calm.
  • I Love You Mummy - I Hate You: A hammock with two small boys swings. One boy says "I love you Mummy," and the other says "I hate you." The hammock swings to the rhythm of their voices. Later, the hammock is shown without the boys, which creates a feeling of loss.
  • Dance for freedom- Thought: Maria Marshall's character "Thought" performs a Sufi whirling dance around the world.
  • I can see the wood for the trees: This artwork is shown on two screens facing each other. On one screen, a tank shoots across the space at "Thought," who is holding a crying baby. A paintbrush appears in "Thought's" hand. She makes paint strokes that are shown on the other screen, making the tank disappear from the image.

Selected Exhibitions

Maria Marshall's art has been shown in many important places around the world. Here are a few examples:

Selected Art Collections

Maria Marshall's artworks are part of many important art collections. Some of these include:

Images for kids

  • Maria Marshall Portrait

    Maria Marshall in 2018

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