"She, a woman of high beauty, created like no other to be Medea, Madonna, Iphigenia, Aspasia, decided one sunny winter day to escape her loneliness and to leave La Rotonda. She bought a ticket 'Aller jamais retour. Berlin Tegel'."

This is the opening scene of Ulrike Ottinger's momentous 1979 film Ticket of No Return-the woman of high beauty was Tabea Blumenschein. Unconcerned with all conventions, Blumenschein adored transformation: in a distinctive, avant-garde aesthetic, the two women embraced various different identities challenging any norms, thus, revealing gender to be a performance. Living and working together for nine years in 1970s West Berlin, Ottinger and Blumenschein remained connected to the end. Creating a dialog between the two artists' perspectives, these books bring together Blumenschein's drawings with Ottinger's photographs from their joint performance sessions for the first time.