Maria Marshall

Gemma:
I found an article on Maria Marshall in a video special of contemporary (issue 71 2005). It was a still from one of her films called "when I grow up I want to be a cooker" that caught my eye. It's of a young child (marshall's own) staring into the camera while smoking a cigarette. The aesthetics are beautiful but evokes an extremely uncomfortable feeling. The article also looks at " Put Medication in his pocket", a film she made a year later in a similar style which featured the same boy eating an oyster "sensually". Together these two films talk of the artists view as a mother and her paranoia about her sons future. There is a sense of danger and wrongness to it all, maybe more so in the second film which not only indicates the future but also the idea of children and sex as she uses a widely assumed aphrodisiac in a way which matches the connotation.

"When I Grow Up I Want to be a Cooker""Put Medication In His Pocket"

Another featured work was "When are we there?" which features herself with her skin creeping and moving while she remains completely passive. This film is linked to the feeling of violation Marshall talks about having while pregnant.

Other works included featured a trip to disney land and a Clint Eastwood influenced transition of boy to man.

I think Marshall creates very human works and I think it's this quality that makes them so appealing to me.