About me
I am in love with talking, letter writing, graffiti culture, flower prints, neo-soul and reggae music, Erykah Badu, tarot cards & psychothriller audiobooks. Also, my everlasting interest in human beings, their ways to observe and digest our complex planet, simply never dies.
Nato Thompson, Theaster Gates, Niki de Saint Phalle, Rebecca Solnit are a few artists that I admire and that keep me in Ahs and Ohs. Thank you for your much-needed self-expression and healing.
Ich liebe es Briefe zu schreiben, Graffitikultur, Blumendrucke, Neo-Soul- und Reggae-Musik, Erykah Badu, Tarotkarten und Psychothriller-Hörbücher. Auch mein immerwährendes Interesse an den Menschen, ihren Wegen, unseren komplexen Planeten zu beobachten, endet einfach nie.
Nato Thompson, Theaster Gates, Niki de Saint Phalle, Rebecca Solnit sind einige Künstler, die ich bewundere und die mich ins Staunen bringen. Ein Dank für Ihre dringend benötigte Selbstdarstellung.
My journey
A major inspiration and source of her profession choice, had been hosting many international DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) students from Russia, China, or Columbia. Other cultures started to fascinate her and her definitiono of family and community expanded.
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2008, after a year of wandering around canals in Amsterdam while taking care of three children as an Aupair, she went for a bachelor’s degree in social work at the Darmstadt at the University of Applied Sciences.
Land art seminar during undergraduate school, circa 2010
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1986 born in Wiesbaden, Germany, Sonja Falke grew up drawing, glueing and cutting folders worth of creative working whenever she could. Favorite art-making time for her? 5 a.m.
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2003. Creating art alone did not seem fulfilling at this point, she decided to start training as a social assistant when she was 16. Sociology & anthropology classes were what she enjoyed the most.
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Darmstadt, "Villa Mathildenhöhe", it´s the year 2009, the starting point of "Kunstzeit" an art project for a private senior facility for dementia affected. Originally implimented for a third & forth semester project, Sonja and her collegue continued the focus on creative identity, biography and memory work weekly with 5-7 elderly for over two years. Financially carried by the UNESCO & Dm Drogerie funding.
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South India in 2011, with a scholarship from the GIZ* Sonja decides to work for Dr. Roy and the Alzheimer and Related Disorders Society of India. Responsible for organizing art projects with dementia clients at the daycare center, she was working in the area of Public Relations and Dementia Prevention & Awareness.
*(German Corporation for International Cooperation)
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Chicago 2014, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by her last station, she wanted to gain more insights in the field of art education, related social justice, gender and ethnic issues on a larger scale. Peace work and conflict management became a major focus in her (research) practice.
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Thanks to SAIC merit scholarships and the generous support of the Ursula & Dr. Thilo Köpfler Foundation , Sonja wanted to serve communities and help facilitate gatherings to create something unknown and new together.
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Back from Asia in 2012, Sonja arrived in Frankfurt am Main and found the Atelier Eastend, an art studio for artists with disabilities. A one of a kind collaboration between the ZWST*, the Jewish community in Frankfurt, and IB Behindertenhilfe; who celebrate Jewish culture and Judaica products.
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She and her team offered a safe space for painters, screen- printers, ceramic, and fiber creatives. Her job included but was not limited to organizing workshops, fairs, exhibitions, social media, networking, and of course, any social-related assistance for everybody involved.
*Central Welfare for Jews in Germany
Chicago in 2016, infront of a Matthew Hoffman mural
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Her thesis about rebuilding historically challenged relationships through art educational tools to connect contemporary Jewish and non- Jewish communities in Germany, led Sonja Falke to center futhermore on art- based conflict & mediation managament. To pursue a PhD research in the same field by exploring other international similar projects became a goal in life.
You wish to support Sonja with her research project?
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2020, a year in which her art practise finds a new home at one of the basis Frankfurt e.V studios, where Sonja is exploring the term “stranger” and the concept of being alien in the midst of anonymity. Colourful absurd characters navigate through space with thick marker lines in and pop-up worlds via playful naive investigations.
Art studio based in the center of Bockenheim, Frankfurt am Main. 10 Min from main train station.
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NOW. Sonja is presently back in Frankfurt where she is working on
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pop-up designs, cut-outs, puppetry and street- art projects
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individual coachings
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lectures at the Hochschule Darmstadt
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mobile art-cart project "Bring the birds back", sponsored by the Hessische Kulturstiftung, while pursuing her social work career in coaching and working with youth.