Marion Heres is a storyteller at heart—through writing, painting, and metaphor. As a pre-teen, her family became Jehovah’s Witnesses, a path she never aligned with. By the end of her teenage years, she made the decision to leave the religion—and with that, had to leave her family as well. Art became a space where she could process, question, and express the complexity of that decision and its subsequent consequences. She has always been a rebel, and art has become the language through which that rebellion finds expression.

In her late twenties, Marion studied medicine and eventually became an obstetrician, with a focus on patient safety and mental health—especially for pregnant women. She had started out as a research assistant, working alongside gynecologists who were early adopters of computer systems in healthcare. The idea that “If only you want, you can do a lot,” has been a phrases that guided her through many shifts in her life. Alongside her medical career, she was always writing. She took creative writing courses in the evenings and with the goal of writing an autobiography, which, though now finished, will never be published. Instead, it lives on and is expressed through the many creative projects she makes. In 2020, she began taking online art classes. And by 2023, she left medicine to become a full-time artist.

Marion has been at Contact since April. She thrives on the creative energy of having others around and values the openness to exchange knowledge and inspiration across disciplines and ideas.

Right now, she is working on a large-scale puppet show project divided into four boxes, each reflecting a different phase of her life. She is very inspired by artists like Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, and other contemporary artists. At the moment, she is also taking a course in pastel and oil painting. She loves the way that these mediums allow her to work with her hands and get messy, similar to when she was working in medicine.

Her work always comes back to her own story and this is where her inspiration comes from. It explores themes of exclusion, access, and belonging, while avoiding dogma. Through art, she invites reflection: who gets let in, who gets left out, and why?

One project especially close to her is UMO: Unidentified Meaningful Object. It is a physical manifestation of her personal history—an object filled with many personal items. Despite, looking lightweight, the object is quite heavy, similar to the  meaning within it. Making these objects is a healing process, and she hopes to offer workshops on it in the future. Her’s is red and white: white for the blank slate she entered the world with and red for her rebellious side.