Taking in the world in its fast pace and volatility, capturing bits and pieces and piecing them all together, for a moment of peace and inner retreat - this is one of the concerns that pursues Miriam Tölke in her photographic collages.

Born in 1977 in Bielefeld, she completed her painting studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart in 2000 and moved to Berlin. During her time in Stuttgart, she began collecting discarded objects: magazines, notebooks, books, catalogs. Paper deemed useless by others, but which, for her, has incredible value. A treasure hunt in the city that she continued in Berlin.

Miriam Tölke piles everything up in her studio, uncovers, pulls individual sheets from their bindings, rearranges them, and cuts out the first impressions like shapes. Faces are cut in half, landscapes are chosen—everything that is important to Miriam Tölke and reflects her own impressions. Between Berlin and the surrounding countryside, the city itself, as well as nature, are a constant impulse for her. The pulsation, compression, and disturbance of a big city, the anonymity and bustle through which one glides like a flâneur and absorbs moments to preserve them, are just as relevant to the artist as the peace and harmony of nature outside of the hustle and bustle.

Both are reflected in his work: his found faces seem to rest within themselves, as if floating, falling from gloss and fashion magazines, emerging from a chaotic world that is only a touch away from memory. Reassembled with features of other faces and other ideas, they bring the gaze back to the center of the image, as if it were a nudge to move towards the next landscape. Identity and balance, two guiding principles that play a major role for the artist.

As a mother of four, femininity is a natural theme for Miriam Tölke. But it's not the only one. At the same time, she sees her art as a reflection on states, community, and society. Where is our place in the fleeting moment? How do we find our way? Collage provides the ideal framework.