In this reflective piece, Camilla Howalt explores the fertile tensions between nature and culture through the lens of Adorno’s negative dialectics. Using homophones like llama/lama, monk/mink, and otter/other, she reveals subtle poetic gaps where presence emerges not from resolution but from paradox. Through grids, fruit, and symbolic interplay, the text invites us into spaces where the natural and the cultural, the sensual and the ascetic, co-exist in unresolved, generative tension.

Excerpt: A Council of Creatures

What if the symbols in our dreams aren’t trying to teach us something new, but to return something we once gave away? In this reflective essay, a vivid dream of a parrot by the Copenhagen lakes becomes a lens for exploring how memory, longing, and imagination intertwine. Through the figure of the bird - bright, strutting, and gently impossible - we encounter the shift from idealisation to integration, from projection to creative agency.

This is not a story about escape, but about return. To a place, a voice, a self that no longer needs to reach outward to be in dialogue. The dream becomes a quiet map - a philosophical artefact - for those navigating complex relationships with memory, art, and the creatures that guide us.

In STRANGE FRUIT, artist Camilla Howalt explores the tension between structure and myth through a triptych of hand-burned grids, photographic transfers, and symbolic layering. Drawing from ancient etching practices, personal cosmology, and the loaded resonance of the pomegranate, the work weaves together themes of memory, ritual, and descent - opening a contemplative space where beauty and grief intersect.

In TRYING BEAUTY, artist Camilla Howalt reflects on the tactile and emotional resonance of texture and colour. Through the lens of cracked earth and in-between spaces, she explores how visual elements open up zones of ambiguity, tension, and sensory engagement - where perception becomes relational, and beauty is something to be felt as much as seen.

Texture and color intertwine within the grid, revealing layers beyond the visible. Through watercolor, textiles, and dyeing, materials interact - supporting, clashing, or suturing together. This in-between space, the invisible middle, becomes a threshold where presence and absence merge.

A daily task could be that of peeling an apple in one long piece, round and round, from top to bottom. As the days passed, the peel slowly transformed - its soft curves hardening into sharp angles, spiraling inward like an architectural structure collapsing into itself. What begins as a simple act of peeling becomes a meditation on time, decay, and the unseen forces that shape matter.

The manifesto delves into the irony of aging and personal growth, highlighting the struggle to reconcile childhood trauma with the expectations of adulthood. It paints a picture of shedding past pain and embracing contradictions, where the glitter of creativity and truth is undercut by the gritty realities of life. The gold imagery, while present, is tinged with a sense of dark humor and disillusionment, making the journey toward self-acceptance a complex and ironically playful one.

The text is a reflective letter that explores the concept of fragmentation within the creative process. It discusses the idea of "monochramy," a fusion of monochrome and monogamy, symbolizing deep commitment to a singular creative focus. The author reflects on the role of desire in creativity, drawing connections between art and romance, and highlights the influence of Minimalism, particularly Sol Lewitt's encouragement to act boldly without fear of failure. The letter acknowledges the challenges artists face in having their work recognized and valued, ultimately embracing fragmentation as a state of potential and growth in both art and life.

About the creative process: A concept, a signifying gesture and a symbol. Drawing on Lacan's theory of projection, this piece connects psychoanalytic insight with creative practice. The concept of projection—displacing internal thoughts or desires onto others—guides a deeper exploration of mental patterns, mirrored in the visual development of the French Knots series and the Love Letters series, which experiment with material, symbolism, and clusters of meaning.

In (M)ysteria I have used the technique of painting with ink on paper in a composition of an organic grid, photography and digital application of scanning, cropping and superimposing various images. These works are developed on the background of my written work WE ARE TIME to be Human, which delves deeply into issues embedded in using the fragment, issues around identity in correlation with trauma, and last creation in connection with time - past-present-future.

In the interview below, the artist behind INK GRID delves into the inspirations, techniques, and meanings that underpin her evocative body of work. These early paintings on paper transform tools of geographical mapping into explorations of the interior world, portraying the subtle shifts in mind and perception. Through a blend of dyed felt pieces, meticulously designed stencils, and intricate stitching, the artist crafts a dialogue between pain, healing, and the continuous quest for self-understanding. Discover how these works fit within a broader artistic vision aimed at repairing and re-pairing the fragmented experiences of the matter (form) of body and senses (colours) of mind.

To PHASES • Words follow painting - painting follow words: Facing poeticizing

In this blog post, I introduce a project that explores how our environments—social situations and buildings, the containers for our well-being, becoming, and socializing—affect us through weather, materials, and mirror reflections.

Transitioning into coding wasn't solely about secrecy, although initially, that was my primary focus. It became a quest for metonymic signifiers and metaphors …

At the time, I would say it was a matter of life and death to be allowed to keep writing, and dotting away my seemingly idle conundrums, which on paper didn’t become more decipherable. Yet, at least to me, they conveyed a state of embodied mind …

I call it love-letter. Love is both a feeling and an action - some say that love doesn’t exist without being actioned upon, that love only shows itself through action …

As a kid and young person, I was what one could call unlucky or just really uncoordinated. It could be in all situations, but especially …

The term Techne, in its ancient Greek philosophical context, emphasizes a broader notion of craftsmanship, artistry, and skill that encompasses not only technical proficiency but also the embodiment of knowledge …