BIOGRAPHY

Dr Mareike Gronwald is a German-born emerging artist and sociologist living on unceded Gundungurra and Dharug Country in the Blue Mountains in Australia. With a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Mannheim (2013) and experience as a researcher and lecturer in the field of social policy analysis, her academic background informs her art practice and her deep interest in how societies function, change and succeed.

 

In 2023, Mareike co-founded the intersectional feminist art collective MWA with two other artist friends based on their shared experiences of being mothers, academics and artists.  MWA's goal is to work collectively and share knowledge, experiences and skills with each other and the wider community. 

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Mareike's art practice is rooted in transformation—constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing visual maps of what it means to be a woman and a mother highlighting internal Gefühlswelten (sensorial and emotional experiences) as well as exploring the spiritual connection with nature providing solace, healing and a feeling of belonging.

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Working primarily with acrylic on canvas, Mareike explores various degrees of abstraction and the intuitive play with colour and form. Torn masking tape becomes a recurring tool, opening and closing space, masking and unmasking what lies beneath. This process gives rise to shapes, lines, and symbols that float between geometric precision and organic irregularity, alluding to the entangled realms of eco-feminism, sociology, and the hidden rituals of m/othering and women’s work across the boundaries of bodies and statehood.

 

Influenced by the emotional intensity of German Expressionism, especially the Blauer Reiter group,  the spiritual abstraction of Hilma af Klint, and the principles of geometric abstraction, Mareike's work attempts to hold space for intuition and intellect, for the fluid and the structured—an ongoing negotiation between internal worlds and external systems. Her abstract compositions often point toward the veiled, unseen dimensions of mothering journeys and women's labour of care, often rendered invisible in dominant narratives.