Marion Boehm (Germany 1964-)
Young woman

fabric, pastel and charcoal collage on paper

Artwork date: 2013
Signature details: signed and dated bottom right
Exchange Rates*: USD 10858.03 – 16287.04
EURO 9867.30 – 14800.96
GBP 8303.91 – 12455.87

(1)

165 x 118 cm; framed size: 193 x 147 x 4.5 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Johannesburg.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Born in Duisburg-Rheinhausen, Germany, Marion Boehm lived a life defined by movement; not just across borders, but between cultures, narratives, and modes of seeing. After a decade as a flight attendant for Lufthansa, travelling the globe, Boehm settled in Johannesburg in 2010 with her husband and daughters. This pivotal shift marked the beginning of her artistic career, one rooted in deep engagement with South African life and history. Her work evolved into a vivid convergence of personal journey and collective memory – a reflection of what it means to live between worlds, to absorb cultures, and to translate them into a visual language of care, dignity, and quiet resistance.

Boehm’s practice is shaped by the spaces she moved through; from the urban communities of Kliptown, Johannesburg to the broader globalised networks of Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was in Kliptown, one of the oldest residential areas in Soweto and a place rich with the weight of struggle and resilience, that her artistic voice began to take root. Here, she became closely involved with the Bolo community centre – a vital hub not only for gathering people, but for gathering memory. Walls lined with everyday objects: worn suitcases, enamel dishes and faded photographs became unofficial archives of Apartheid’s legacy and its lived aftermath. For Boehm, these materials spoke volumes: they were vessels of loss, survival, and pride, imbued with quiet testimony

In this context, her creative process emerged as a deeply collaborative and site-responsive act. Drawing on her experiences in Kliptown and inspired by her mentor, South African artist Kay Hassan, she began photographing members of the community, often women, in intimate, respectful sittings. These portraits became the foundation for her large-scale collages, which she built up using charcoal, antique papers, and fabrics sourced from across Africa and beyond. Her approach was tactile and layered, much like the histories she sought to honour. She gathered these materials like stories, absorbed them like a sponge, and squeezed them out again – not in loud declarations, but in soft, powerful whispers. In place of overt protest, her subjects exude presence. These are women you might pass on the street: poised, grounded, proud. Their beauty lies in their nuance: unadorned, and understated, but bearers of everyday grace and unfiltered strength.

In this striking mixed-media portrait, Boehm presents a young woman in profile, her gaze calm and self-assured. Her face and arms, enlarged black-and-white photographs reworked in charcoal and pastel, are rich with texture and realism, while her boldly patterned dress, meticulously collaged from fabric, carries an ornate floral motif in ochre, plum, and rust. The figure’s hand rests gently on her stomach, hinting at motherhood or possibility, while the layered background, composed of delicate, timeworn papers, envelops her in quiet history. As with so much of Boehm’s work, there is dignity in the details: the curve of the wrist, the fall of fabric, the steady strength of her presence. This woman does not ask to be seen – she simply is. And in that presence lies the heart of Boehm’s approach.