eva michielin
the art of transformation
We can’t heal this world if we don’t heal ourselves – Think how much creativity, vitality and power would emerge.
Our world is under stress. Many of us feel it, as individual pressure, but also as collective tension. Human history over the last couple of thousands of years has led to a loss of the feeling of connectedness to ourselves, to our world, our environment, to each animal, each plant, each thing and each other human being. This loss of connectedness is perceived as stress and leads to war, violence and hate or is covered up by even more work, consumption or distraction.
If we could succed in growing connectedness again, to regain the feeling of belonging together, with all and everything in this world, we would heal this very world just like that.
My work is a little contribution to this healing. I work with and for survivors of sexual abuse and sexualized violence, as I - being a survivor myself - feel a strong connection here, which I want to make the very fundament of a healing process and share it with others.
Interview.
How did you find your way to art?
Already as a child I’ve practically spent half the day “sitting in colours”, so to speak; I was fascinated by their power, painting one picture after another. That however faded because of the experiences I made in my childhood, until my “adult me” could uncover it again.
What does art mean to you? What is the purpose of art?
Art is the strongest form of expression I have. It signifies communication to me. Arts purpose, for me, is to make the world a tiny bit better.
How do you work? Which materials do you use, and why?
I roam through nature and take photographs. Then I print the structures of trees and rocks onto large canvases. That’s the base that I then work on, mostly with my body – in any case without brushes, spatulas, scoops or any other painting tools.
How is a piece of art created? Where does the idea come from?
The idea is born within my soul. Often I am “pregnant” with the idea for years before it is born. My ideas then become MUSTS: I have to do them! I can’t help it, they just need to get out.
Where do you get the motives for your photography?
Almost exclusively from nature. I’m especially keen on the barks of trees and rock formations, but recently also water. I am fascinated by these natural structures beauty, their delicacy, fierceness, the perfection of their colours in balance, the harmony within the elements. Sometimes I really can’t add anything to my printed picture because it’s just so perfect and beautiful like that.
How long does it take you to complete one artwork?
Sometimes years – with breaks, because something is still at work within me. Just recently I had a picture roughly finished within a day, but only after pondering over it for over two years.
Is there some kind of philosophy you follow?
I don’t know if that’s a philosophy, but I try to include a strong connection to nature in my works. I would love to merge with it, to become a part of it. It’s a strong desire for connection that guides me.
Which topics do your works cover?
Strong women, beautiful women, wonderful women, tree women, water women… all out of a context of healing, of outgrowing the own, experienced pain.
Why do you cover these topics?
According to estimates. Every third girl and every third boy in the world suffer through abuse. That’s unbearable and it has to change. With my art I call attention to just that. This way I contribute to making this buried suffering visible, and hopefully to easing it, too.
How decisive is your biography for your works?
It is everything, because I, too, am a survivor
What do you want to achieve with your art?
I want to raise people’s awareness for the issue of sexual abuse off dry statistics, because it is nothing abstract: It is the neighbor next door or the colleague in your office that is affected. Only if we look closely, things will change.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I will have repeated my Body Voices program in ten countries worldwide and will have touched thousands of people with my work. I want to encourage the survivors and give them hope, and accompany them on their way out of fear and shame back into the light.