Marianne Heske

The facsimile copy of a photographic private diary published for the first time in 1978 Usually it takes a long time for an artist to develop a clearly recognizable personal style. Marianne Heske counts among the exceptions. Early in her development she identified a problematic which has since characterized all her work. Above all she is concerned with the human figure, as one small element in the general social context. The ever recurring motif in Marianne Heske’s art is the doll’s mask, factory made and entirely standardized. She uses it as a symbol of man’s need for disguise, of the restraints each of us has to impose upon our individuality in order to exist and to function socially. She employs a variety of photographic techniques that lend an air of authenticity to the images, but by introducing masks covering people’s faces, she points out the social pressures to which these individuals are exposed.