MUNTHE ART MONDAY: CAMILLA LOVMAND
Please introduce yourself and tell about what you do?
My universe is curious, colorful, and embracing. I work a lot with being human, the feelings we and I have, and being in the world with curiosity and attention to small moments and objects in everyday life. A large part of my process is collecting paper, all the paper that naturally comes to me, which I use in my art of sculpture and paper creation – a natural diary that creates itself and reminds me to pay attention to small parts of what happens. With my works, I have a feeling that I am creating a form of "parallel garden/world" in my art, where I seek acceptance and care for what happens in reality. I highly value the slow processes, the collection of paper itself, the exploration of what I notice, the creation of sculptures that take a long time, painting, drawing, and embroidery, crafts that stop time. I like the small details, and it gives me peace to experience everything more slowly while I create.
The knit on the chair is Taccu knit.
Can you name some other female artist that inspires you and explain why they do so?
I think there are many powerful female artists out there, and I have a clear sense that we are flourishing. I am very inspired by the slow processes, such as those of Dagmar Petersen; she is skilled. And immediacy, for example, Frances Cannon, are some of the artists I am inspired by in different ways. Also, the illustrator Olga Prader.
What has been the most challenging aspect of being a woman in the arts?
When I think about it, I don't come up with anything very challenging. I feel strong as a woman and have such a feeling that I can do what I can because I am me. I think the biggest challenge for me has been to stand by what I create; I find it very vulnerable, and it is still a journey to tell stories about the works I create because they are tied to vulnerable and personal experiences.
Can you tell us more about how being a woman has affected your career?
It is a difficult question, I think. But it must have an impact on where I am today. A fact is that I am a woman and I am me, which has certainly influenced my artistic journey. But it's not an influence I can specifically pinpoint. Hmm, I use my emotional life a lot, and I have used art to understand myself and my experiences throughout my life, especially being curious about my body and being very aware of, for example, my cycle and how it affects me, but more as a curiosity about "this is how I am, that is, a woman" so I have to relate to that, which can be both challenging and really rewarding and gives me the opportunity to use those feelings in my own way in my art.
Camilla is wearing Taccu knit.
What would you like people to notice in your art?
I wish in a way, that others can step into the same feeling of this "parallel garden/world" when they experience my art, where acceptance and care are what I find and hope others encounter in their own way - at the same time, I wish for an open interpretation. I want people to find what they need in my works, and perhaps a piece can be the guiding thread to what the viewer is seeking themselves. I also hope that by just working in this way, I can inspire the slow and thoughtful processes and attention to the small moments - which I think are necessary to acknowledge in the fast-paced world, which sometimes feels like it is blowing past me. It's nice to be able to find a slow place.
Camilla is wearing Tuxa blouse.
