From Now to Now - Tapa blanda

The Autobiography of Marlis Jermutus - Born in Germany during World War II, a beautiful young fatherless child picks flowers on the battlefield. At age four she befriends the pillaging Russian soldiers, and every man for years to come will appear as both father figure and invader. War, sexual abuse, and class insecurity awakens an extraordinary defense mechanism in the young girl. With laser-like attention to detail, she searches with searing honesty for meaning and compassion. Professionally trained in the exacting art of being a German housekeeper, she learns the lessons, but never conforms to a normal home life. Four husbands, many lovers, friendships with icons of a counter-culture, years in prison, years of painting astounding abstract art and playing abstract meditative music, and within every moment she finds the keys to a profound spiritual awareness.

Marlis Jermutus, also known simply as Ma (short for Malerin, the German word for painter), was born in the West German town of Wesel in 1942. She began her professional career as an artist in 1970. Marlis began an artistic journey shared by her contemporaries, German artists Rigo and her neighbor in the Neiderrhein region, Joseph Beuys. These artists chose to transform the experience of the suffering and oppression of war through the healing freedom of artistic expression. Beuys believed there was a "science of freedom" in art. Marlis sought that science through a combination of Eastern art and philosophy, and in new writings in Western thought, especially the work of physicist and systems theorist Fritjof Capra. Marlis developed an artistic style that succeeds in expressing her intuitive inner vision in a form once described by a reviewer as "Calligraphic Landscapes." Marlis was a founding member of Germany's national artist's union BBK (Niederrhein 1971) and the artist's collective Kuenstlergruppe Egal (Berlin 1987). She was the artistic director for the five day World Religion Festival commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Power of Vision (Berlin-Potsdam 1991). Since 1970, she has exhibited her paintings in Europe and America. Marlis also plays tamboura for the music group Starseed.