Think of all you hold dear; to paint is to hope.
For me, to paint is to hope—to fight for all that I hold dear!
For me, to paint is to hope—to hope for the future of our children and grandchildren—to hope for the future of our planet!
Climate summits, government organisations, NGOs, politicians, young and old have, in recent years, time and again drawn attention to the planet’s vulnerability. Through my art project, I wish to tread new paths that encourage focus, dialogue, and reflection on our values and our view of nature’s and humanity’s resources.
Within THINK OF ALL YOU HOLD DEAR is my art project WOMEN WHO CHANGE THE WORLD, which supports the UN’s 5th Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality. A project I have worked on since 2015, in which I portray a series of female role models as well as groups of women, historical and contemporary. As an artist, I document—and am inspired by—how the portrayed woman, over the course of some 150 years, has changed from object to subject in her own right.
Change towards a new world begins with the way the world views women. Our view of women begins with ourselves. Creating art in which one can see oneself reflected is of the utmost importance to me. Seeing a role model can be transformative: “If I can see it, I can do it!”. My portraits invite reflection and contemplation—filling the void where women should have been, and should be.
Now I am expanding the agenda with the art project THINK OF ALL YOU HOLD DEAR, taking the next step and including nature, the landscape, the climate—the planet, if you will. The project supports the UN’s 13th Sustainable Development Goal on climate action. Change towards a new way of thinking begins with ourselves. A new way of thinking about our planet begins with the way the world views it and the use of its resources.
The drama in the painting is created, among other things, by placing the figures physically in a vast emptiness, beneath a dark sky or against a dramatic background. Light and contrast are heightened when the very brightest meets the very darkest. Again and again, music is created from the poetry of the colour tones. We long, we are drawn in, we feel.
The motif THINK OF ALL YOU HOLD DEAR fights for what is good, for equality, and for nature! In the words of L.A. Ring: “Without nature, I do not see any future for painters”. In my words: “Without nature, I do not see any future for people”.
Lost and Hope, Anna Hammershøi with trees on her head
Anna Hammershøi (1868–1935) Anna Hammershøi is one of the most recognisable, yet also one of the most enigmatic figures in Danish art history. In 1891, she married Vilhelm Hammershøi, who throughout their marriage used her as his model, and their very private marriage thus gained artistic significance, as she appears in his most famous works, often seen from behind, in quiet rooms with muted colours and sparse furnishings. Anna Hammershøi was not merely a passive model. She played a central role in shaping the distinctive universe for which Hammershøi’s art is known. Her calm demeanour, simple attire, and recurring poses supported the paintings’ atmosphere of silence, contemplation, and...
Anna Hammershøi in Grey
The transformation from unrest—layered in strong colours and expressive strokes—to calm, with balance in colours and brushwork, creates a space of its own for the painting’s eloquent silence. A silence that can be supported by being made not present in sight or in speech. A quiet space for reflection and the private sphere. As in Virginia Woolf’s novel “A Room of One’s Own”, the downward or averted gaze speaks its own language just as much as the woman seen from behind. You are given only a glimpse of the story and must imagine the rest yourself, making the painting even more compelling and interesting. An expression of a woman who, like the women in Hammershøi’s 19th-century universe, was...
Hope, Anna Hammerhøi with egg
The interplay between light, hope, and optimism in the bright tones of my works—shaped by light, earlier painters, and the lyricism found, among others, in Jeppe Aakjær’s beautiful verse “Stille, hjerte, sol går ned”—is set against the threat of the climate changes being brought about on our planet. I depict this as a drama in my paintings, from the very light tones to the very dark and sombre ones. Nature gives me simplicity and connections. It gives me calm and meaning. The aesthetics and light in nature are the meaning of life. Without them, we are lost. The planet will survive, but will we?
