Living By Making

The Artist Who Looked Away

For eleven years, six months and twenty days, I have counted time differently. In this episode I reflect on addiction, ambition, shame and the strange contradictions of building an artistic life. From AA meetings in Denmark to an artist residency in Berlin, from quietly observing a famous writer in my favourite café to confronting my own fear of being seen, this is an essay about longing—for recognition, belonging, and the courage to show up as oneself. Along the way, I explore how perfectionism, social anxiety and the fantasy of becoming "someone" can keep us hidden, even while we desperately want to be found. Part memoir, part meditation on art and recovery, this episode asks whether success begins not with trying harder—but with trying softer. Web: www.mianelle.dk [https://www.mianelle.dk] Instagram: mianelle_studio [https://www.instagram.com/mianelle_studio/]

Congratulations! My big solo show in 2018 and I wanted to get drunk.

In 2018, I was given the opportunity to create a monumental wall painting as part of a solo exhibition in a large gallery built around an empty swimming pool. For two days, I painted obsessively — covering more than eighty square metres of wall with flowers, animals, and colour. The exhibition became one of the biggest artistic opportunities of my career. Yet, alone in a borrowed apartment the night before the opening, another story unfolded. More than a year sober, I suddenly found myself on my way to buy a bottle of wine. A story about making art, staying sober, and learning that every day counts. Receive letters with draiwings by signing up here: www.mianelle.dk [https://www.mianelle.dk/letters] and follow me on my Instagram: mianelle_studio [https://www.instagram.com/mianelle_studio/]

The Vertical Lines - From Local Market to Museum Show

In this episode of Living by Making, I share the story of spending four days alone at a local market in Denmark, trying to sell my art from a small tent between crystal sellers, ceramic vulvas, and a tanning salon. What begins as a practical attempt to earn money slowly turns into a reflection on class, visibility, the art world, survival, and what it feels like to create while living with a nervous system in constant alarm. This episode moves between humour, exhaustion, social anxiety, art, and the strange reality of trying to build a life through making. It is also an episode about the body — and the small sensory rituals that sometimes help us stay present when everything inside us wants to flee. From local market to museum show. Instagram: mianelle_studio Web: www.mianelle.dk [http://www.mianelle.dk]  Email: studio@mianelle.dk [studio@mianelle.dk]

How I Ended Up Working with Murderers

I share fragments from my life: living on almost nothing, standing in a supermarket unable to choose, and working for years inside a prison with men convicted of severe crimes — where something unexpected began to unfold. This is an episode about vulnerability, dignity, and the invisible structures shaping an artist’s life. And maybe also a question: What is art worth — and to whom? — You are not alone. I see you. 🌿 Website: www.mianelle.dk [https://www.mianelle.dk] 🌿 Instagram: mianelle_studio [https://www.instagram.com/mianelle_studio/] 🌿 Support my PodCast and work: patreon/mianelle [https://www.patreon.com/MiaNelle]

Who Gets to Belong in the Art World?

This week, I received a working grant from the Danish Arts Foundation — after fifteen years of rejection. In this episode, I reflect on what it means to finally be “recognised” as an artist. On the idea of the elite — and the quiet feeling of still being outside of it. On the realities of working conditions in the art world, money, and the body under pressure. This is a personal essay about value, survival, and the moment something shifts — not in the system, but inside. Instagram : @mianelle_studio  Web: www.mianelle.dk