For this series of 21 collages, I’ve been diving into a very specific visual world: German women’s magazines from the late 1950s and early 1960s. There’s something about them that draws me in—maybe it’s the colors, the optimism, or the carefully staged images of domestic life. But it’s more than just aesthetics. It feels like stepping into a time capsule, into the role of a housewife just before the women’s liberation movement took off.
Post-war Germany was longing for stability, for a return to “normal life.” But behind the neat living rooms and smiling faces, many women were carrying deep losses—fathers, sons, brothers, husbands. They had worked hard during the war, in factories or simply to survive, only to be pushed back into the home when the men returned, often damaged and distant.
What fascinates me in these old magazines is the quiet way they reflect how society tried to reshape women’s roles. Between the beauty tips and cake recipes, you can almost read between the lines—a kind of coded message about how adult women were expected to behave, live, and limit themselves.
My collages try to bring that tension to the surface. They highlight the pressure to fit in, to be perfect, to disappear behind routines and appearances. At the same time, they nod to the early sparks of change—something was already shifting under the surface.
By working with these materials, I’m asking questions. What were we told to believe about ourselves back then? And maybe more importantly: what are we still told today? Are our relationships, our work lives, our beauty standards truly free of these old ideas? Or are we still living with their shadows?