I am beginning to want what I am

This bilingual monograph marks the first time Helga Michie's previously largely unknown artistic oeuvre, giving voice to her own experiences of Nazi oppression and exile, is documented extensively. The book includes texts by friends as well as academic contributions discussing both Michie’s far-reaching relationships with Austrian émigrés in London and the early separation of the twin sisters, whose diverging paths open up complementary perspectives on a common fate. Past horrors of persecution and displacement return almost like dreams in Michie's quasi-automatic drawings: relocated into the uncanny world of fairy tales and mediated by poetic humor, keen observations of everyday activities, and experiments with various printing techniques. Simultaneously, the artist probes the possibilities of freely combining geometric shapes and colorful abstractions. “Where does the consolation from these pictures come from? It is a mystery, but it’s there.” —Ilse Aichinger on the works of her twin sister