Marie von Heyl

In her writings, drawings, collages, films, sculptures, and installations, Marie von Heyl pursues her fascination with “objects that serve as mediators between different belief systems or carriers of sentimental value, such as cult objects, fetishes, heirlooms and souvenirs.” These belief systems range from aesthetic to cultural to personal. For example, she frequently explores the belief in ghosts in her work, which have featured found and altered images of séances and objects arranged in ways that make them appear possessed by an inner spirit. In other works, she explores changing design ideals (another kind of belief system), as in one series that features images of tables and table parts. The images combine the sleek minimalism of Modernism with more ornamental aesthetics of earlier periods. Through these investigations, von Heyl highlights how the present is, as she puts it, “haunted” by the past.