Location : Copenhagen, Denmark
Profession / passion : Artist
Website : www.astristyrkestadhaukaas.com
Instagram : @astristyrkestadhaukaas

One Day is an ongoing project sparked by the Covid-19. In the days of isolation we would like to focus on what we do best; bringing people together. Read more about the project here.
We will be posting one new day of someones life every day until we run out of contributors. See our instagram stories to experience these peoples One Day in action.

A text, song or film that everyone should experience.
Snowy Evening
Give away your darkness and be rich.
Like some evenings after snow.
The fields are rich and the uplands too,
Snow sprinkles from the pine branches,
And the houses are rich — safe
For life and heart.
The sleeping earth knows
It’s own splendor.
Heaven’s frosty brows
Is full of stars.

From Luminous Spaces, a collection of Olav H. Hauge’s poems translated from Norwegian to English by Olav Gride, white pine press.

What is the story behind your profession/ passion?
I’m an artist first and foremost. But I do a lot of other things on the side.
I’ve always painted. I’ve had breaks from it -- long and short.
After a while, I always come back to it. Some years back, I made the decision to make more space for my own practice. This came after a five year break where I only worked with art through curating and showing other artists works. I still love doing this and the contrast between the introvert space that I have in my studio and the social space that is created at the opening of an exhibition is so wonderful. I have found out that I need to have my main focus on my own practice now. It feels very good.

How do you want people to react to your work / passion?
I hope my paintings are open and let the person who stops to look bring their own experiences ,memories or stories into it. The titles can hopefully be an as musical accompaniment and not a riddle for you to solve.

How has the current situation affected how you work?
When Denmark went in to lock down I was on a month-long stay at an art residency in Norway. I had been there for a bit less than two weeks when the borders were closed. I’m a Norwegian citizen that lives and works in Denmark, so I was allowed to stay in Norway and also come back to Denmark when I needed to. I was all alone on this beautiful rural farm at the foot of Skarvheimen (a high mountain area in Hallingdal, Norway) and had all the space and time in the world to work + beautiful nature right outside the door. I had invited three friends who are also artists to come and work with me at the residency, but that got cancelled when the lockdown was introduced and they could not travel to the farm.

I decided to stay, but that I would follow and take one day at a time - always ready to make a decision to cancel the stay, if necessary.

Although there were moments when I wanted someone to talk to, to continuously digest all the information, I mostly enjoyed this solitude. I was able to focus and work in a flow I have never experienced before. Now I know I have the ability to do so and that is wonderful to have felt. Maybe it will make finding the way back to that place inside me easier. Everytime I come back from a residency I have so much material to work on and I find the shift of environment beneficial for me further working with it. So I felt very lucky that I got to still work like this even though the world was (is) upside down.

Tappan Collective, the gallery that represents me in the US, has been wonderful during this pandemic and it has made this whole situation feel a bit more safe and stable. I’ve made some sales and they have worked so hard to highlight and bring our works and practices out to their online network of collectors and followers.

In general, I have loved seeing the solidarity between artists and the creativity in bringing out the art in different ways during lockdown. I’m seeing it everyday and I absolutely love it. And that definitely affects my work on some level.

What is the most inspiring text you read recently?
This is from a book by Rebecca Solnit called A Field Guide To Getting Lost and it really has helped me put words on so many sensations that I never was able to put into words (and to some extent always try to capture in my works, I think):
For many years, I have been moved by the blue at the far edge of what can be seen, that color of horizons, of remote mountain ranges, of anything far away. The color of that distance is the color of an emotion, the color of solitude and of desire, the color of there seen from here, the color of where you are not. And the color of where you can never go. For the blue is not in the place those miles away at the horizon, but in the atmospheric distance between you and the mountains.
We treat desire as a problem to be solved, address what desire is for and focus on that something and how to acquire it rather than on the nature and the sensation of desire, though often it is the distance between us and the object of desire that fills the space in between with the blue of longing. I wonder sometimes whether with a slight adjustment of perspective it could be cherished as a sensation on its own terms, since it is as inherent to the human condition as blue is to distance? If you can look across the distance without wanting to close it up, if you can own your longing in the same way that you own the beauty of that blue that can never be possessed? For something of this longing will, like the blue of distance, only be relocated, not assuaged, by acquisition and arrival, just as the mountains cease to be blue when you arrive among them and the blue instead tints the next beyond. Somewhere in this is the mystery of why tragedies are more beautiful than comedies and why we take a huge pleasure in the sadness of certain songs and stories. Something is always far away.

Define what beauty means to you.
The stones on a pebble beach, the colour pallets in nature, late nights around a long dinner table with friends and family where the dinner ended hours ago but the wine bottles did not, when someone tell you about something or someone they love, the powerful fierce anger that leads to action when someone is fighting to change unjust structures and something bigger than themselves, making food, seeing someone or a place you love again after a long time apart…. It can be found in everything. You bring with you your filters which you see the world through and I think that filter defines what you find beautiful or are attracted to. Your filter is made by your life story, your memories and your narratives.

Describe a smell that brings back memories to you.
Okay, this is a whole scene from my childhood but elements from this scene can pop up as fragments anywhere -- sound, smell, visuals-- and draw me back to this place; Early morning fog over water, the rhythm of a roaboat’s oars -- dipping under, coming back up, dripp dripp dripp; dipping under, coming back up, dripp dripp dripp -- the earthy smell of a freshwater lakes bank, then the smell and sound of an old wet fishing net being pulled into the boat, followed by the smell of freshly caught fish (it really has a very different smell than when the fish is sold in the store).

What traits do you treasure in other people?
Openness, humor, curiosity (towards themselves and others), passion/ opinions.

Your most treasured possession?
Our collection of art. My boyfriend and I are always looking to add to it (once in a while when there's a surplus of money on the account), it is a huge investment in your soul being surrounded by art.
I have a list of my favorite artists, emerging and a bit more established -- I loooove sharing it around so please write to me if you want the list in an email.
Maybe you will find something that gives you that special feeling, gives you access to something long forgotten, reminds you of someone or some place you miss or long for, maybe that it takes you out of your normal thoughts and transfers you to a whole new place inside of you. It’s so many different ways to appreciate it and it lasts for a lifetime. So invest in art / artists and thereby also invest in yourself -- I know! woaah!

Who do you miss?
I miss my mom a lot. She passed away almost 11 years ago. So it is not something that is connected to the Corona situation, but she is the only person I really miss.
It has been (and still is) an educational journey to befriend my grief, accept it and let it become a part of my everyday life. Learning to live with it has given me a way to have her with me everywhere and when the grief is at its most intense that's also when I feel her the most. It’s both painful and beautiful. Like a weird happyplace I don’t wanna stay in too long, but always want to come back to. There are also places in nature that bring me closer to her. Situations, smells and sounds that transports me to a memory where I get to spend some time with her. I don’t believe in life after death but I get to keep her alive this way. And it’s kept alive by recognizing my grief, not being afraid of it and by talking about her every chance I get, saying out loud that I miss her with all my heart.

Time doesn't heal all wounds but time has taught me the ability to move in and out of my grief, carrying it with me and finding strength in her memory.

When was the last time you learned something new and what was it?
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about the human brain and how we create memories and learn. I know very very little about the few things neuroscientists know about the human brain, so every time I continue reading about this I learn something new. It is so interesting and I’m super fascinated by how much the patterns in our brain defines who we are. How we react to the world around us and the story we tell about ourselves. It’s such a poetic organ.

Also, for my birthday this weekend I got a book called Danish beach stones -- A guide. The book has taught me that I know very little about different types of stones and minerals. So now I have a lot to learn about that. I have collected a lot of stones from various trips and have a lot of stones both in my apartment and at my studio. Now I can start naming them. That’s so nice (for a reason I don’t really know. It’s just nice).

Have you actively chosen to live in the city/town you live in?
Yes. I’m from Norway but moved to Aarhus in Denmark ten years ago (for education) and after two years there I moved to Copenhagen. I actively chose to move here and are actively choosing to stay.
Danish people’s way of enjoying life is very unique I think. It’s a lot of support and goodwill on others behalf. I think that is important for a city and it’s art and cultural scene — it allows small unique underground places to grow even when the big cultural funds are giving most of the resources to the bigger institutions… These places grow from passion, interest and the importance for society, and not necessarily the sole purpose of making money.
It’s the same with restaurants here. There are so many beautiful places to eat good and drink good that creates this open social culture.
It makes me want to stay. And when I leave the city to go home to the countryside in Norway I get a big shift in my surroundings. I feel very lucky to have that contrast in my life and the fact that I can move between. Not really right now and that's okay. We’re here.

How do you relax?
Hiking in the mountains, partying or having dinner with friends (oooh how I miss big parties and dinners!), laughing, looking for stones on a beach, laying on my couch, painting, biking, laughing, hugging (ooooh how I miss hugging)

If you were forced to sit still for one month straight without pursuing your current profession, how would you spend your time?
If I could decide where I would be located while sitting still I would transport myself to my family's mountain farm in Norway. Sit in front of the window and watch the weather roll by. Preferably really stormy weather.

What does freedom mean to you?
I feel most free when I’m in a state where I don't pay attention to what others think of me or what I do… Not giving a fuck in situations where fucks do not deserve to be given. It’s harder to learn than it sounds. It’s not a constant state for me but I’m trying to practice every day and as with everything you practice you get better at it.

As Mark Manson (sorry for quoting “Self-help gurus”) writes:
….Because when we give too many fucks, when we choose to give a fuck about everything, then we feel as though we are perpetually entitled to feel comfortable and happy at all times, that’s when life fucks us.
… Developing the ability to control and manage the fucks you give is the essence of strength and integrity [and in my opinion a sense of freedom]. We must craft and hone our lack of fuckery over the course of years and decades. Like a fine wine, our fucks must age into a fine vintage, only uncorked and given on the most special fucking occasions.

For me that means trying to be aware of where I put my energy to get energy. I could for example spend a whole lifetime focusing on where I should go according to norms in our society without ever stopping and paying attention to my gut feeling, or I could spend hours every day being worried about what others think of me and/ or my life choices. I can never read people's minds and I should never base my life choices on someone else's dream. It really is freedom when I get to detach myself completely from that.

When I stop judging others and how they live their lives, that also gives me a feeling of freedom.
I’m not saying I never judge but I try to minimize it. Acknowledge it and then stop by moving on with my life. To judge someone else or yourself is a negative and passive activity. And I think we should expect more of each other and of ourselves (Btw This doesn’t mean I mean that you have to like everyone you meet. Just don’t like them and move on. It's fine).

One of my biggest life lessions is that good friends, good colleagues and family are always worth giving a fuck about. Acknowledging that we are all connected, that I do not exist entirely on my own and letting go of the idea of the individual genius is grounding and safe. And I believe that when we feel safe we have a good chance of feeling free.

Should calm come from within or be facilitated by the environment?
Maybe it is different from person to person. But if I'm in a room full of noise; how I react to that noise is determined by how I'm feeling inside. If I have agitated / stressed / uneasy feelings inside anything can tipp me off. If I’m a good place I have all the surplus in the world to take on new and different spaces, ambiances and people.

Lastly, how do wish to see this current situation have a positive impact on our lives?
I hope we are able to change the political mindset from me and mine, to something more solitary and social. It’s all nice and cute that we clap for the essential workers but don’t forget who you clapped for next time you get to vote. I hope we start recognising how connected we are to each other and nature and stop thinking that we are an elevated species entitled to take advantages and capitalize on nature and co-species.

One Day : Astri Styrkestad Haukaas - Artist