Time Shifts, Patterns Stay the Same - The Australian Womens Diary

Marlies Pekarek’s new book features selected texts from her art diaries that she once began during her studies in Australia and has continued until today. It is based on Australian Woman’s Diaries, an annual calendar with diary sections for personal notes, stories about women in Australia and nostalgic illustrations and texts from historical guide books for women. Marlies Pekarek has reinterpreted this model and developed it in her own context. She not only includes current global events in her collages consisting of press photos and other findings, but general considerations as well, such as reflections on symbols of power, different religions and the position of women. From within the printed frame of the calendar, the artist develops expressive and playfully light-hearted illustrations and associative connections. Even if these diaries originally emerged as a kind of artistic by-product of her current work cycles, as independent works, they aptly illustrate key issues in Marlies Pekarek’s creative development.