Gennem seks årtier har tysk-danske Ursula Reuter Christiansen (f. 1943) skabt skulpturer, maleri, film, performance og installationer, og hun står nu sent i livet overfor et internationalt gennembrud. I hendes værker viger skønheden for det kraftfulde og ubekvemme, når hun levendegør den frygt og de længsler, som ikke kun er hendes egne men et fælles menneskeligt grundvilkår. I denne rigt illustrerede bog, der ledsager udstillingen ‘Jeg er ild og vand’ på ARKEN Museum for Samtidskunst, undersøger lektor i litteraturvidenskab Lilian Munk Rösing blandt andet Reuter Christiansens værkers stærke tilknytning til litteraturen gennem den tyske romantik. I en poetisk og personlig tekst skildrer kunstneren selv livet og verdens tilstand som en rejse langs en knivsæg med håb og håbløshed som afgrunde. Før eller siden vil vi falde, skriver hun, men til hvilken side? Over the course of six decades, German-Danish artist Ursula Reuter Christiansen (b. 1943) has created sculptures, paintings, films, performances and installations. Now, late in life, she is on the brink of her international breakthrough. In her works, beauty gives way to the poignantly powerful and uncomfortable as she brings to life the fears and longings which are not only her own but part of the human condition. In this richly illustrated book, which accom- panies the exhibition ‘I Am Fire and Water’ at the ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark, Associate Professor of Literature Lilian Munk Rösing examines aspects such as the strong connection between Reuter Christiansen’s art and the realm of literature, particularly that of German Romanticism. In a poetic and personal text, the artist depicts life itself and the state of the world as a journey along a knife edge, with hope and hopelessness yawning on either side. Sooner or later we will fall, she writes, but into which of the two abysses?