IN PIECES, IN GOLD

ArtBlog

Aug 23

Fragments are like puzzle pieces - individual elements that belong to a larger whole.A fragment is “a small part broken off or separated from something larger” - like pottery shards scattered across a table, each holding a hint of the full object they once were.

When I created and shared my short story L’Écriture d’Été in fragments, I didn’t fully know what it would become.

Looking back, I now see why this form called to me - and how it shaped not just the story, but my way of working. What follows is a reflection on fragments, space, repair, and the unexpected lessons that came from them.

• The literary fragment comes out of a poetic and philosophical tradition that I find immensely interesting and challenging. It feels like a truer reflection of how life plays out - partial, elliptical, flickering in and out. Sharing my story in daily fragments allowed for a kind of meta-play: a short story, released in shorter elements. A fragment within a fragment. A system of fractals.

• The artistic fragment opens spaces between compositional elements. These spaces allow quiet - a pause - and invite the reader’s mind to associate, imagine, and bring forth other possible narratives. In that space, meaning can shimmer.

Practically, sharing large chunks of writing on social media (or even online platforms) often overwhelms. The form I chose wasn’t just artistic, but responsive to how we read now: in glimpses, in transit, with fingers scrolling.

Personally, this project was a way of learning to share my writing alongside my visual art - and feel excited doing so. The fragments gave me a daily incentive, a dose of courage, and freedom.

And underneath all of this runs the quiet thread of Kintsukuroi - the ancient Japanese technique of repairing broken pottery with gold. This metaphor has lived in my work for a long time. The way the old - the broken - is given a new and often more beautiful place in our lives. The visible repair becomes part of the story.

This post is not a preview. It’s a looking back. A tribute to the fragment.

Thank you for reading.

ArtBlogAestheticsCamillaHowalt

Camilla Howalt

Visual Artist

After graduating with First-Class Honours from Wimbledon School of Art and completing an MA at Kingston University’s Center for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Camilla Howalt (b.1968) established her Malmö-based studio in 2021. Her practice focuses on creating prints and original artworks that blend photography, painting, and digital techniques.

Working across painting, textile-based media, and photography to explore perception, materiality, and fragmentation, her work traces the ways pain - physical, emotional, existential - inscribes itself onto surfaces, bodies, and spaces. Through mapped and layered textures, she investigates how presence unfolds in the tension between sensuality, introspection, and abstraction.

Camilla’s work is part of private collections across Europe, and her prints are available for purchase, bringing her distinct, contemplative style into homes and spaces looking for both aesthetic and thoughtful engagement.