AT: What’s your first approach to the work? Could you describe your practice?

FH: I would say my first approach to the work is through the matter. My work is closely connected to everyday life rituals and my surroundings. I’m interested in the logic in our way of leaving material traces around us, on a conscious and subconscious level, and I try trough simple gestures to emphasize these relations between body, matter, and site. For example in my series of concrete sculptures – each sculpture bare imprints from found fragments together with consumables like tape and wrapping paper. One of them is a cast of the doormat I walk on when entering the studio. The parts work like building blocks – they can be combined and arranged in various ways, and so every formation of the work is temporal and specific for that situation and site.

AT: What are your favorite tools and materials for working?

FH: I prefer materials that allow traces from the process to be seen in the final shape. Lately I’ve been working mainly with concrete, water, and paper pulp from newsprint. I like the relation between these three materials – their similarities and contradictions. Water is an element of both construction and demolition, and it’s also the binding for concrete and paper pulp. I made a series of concrete sculptures which contained water that evaporated during the time they were exhibited. By the end of the exhibition the sculptures were completely dried, and you could observe how the water had affected the surface and the color.

AT: Do you leave your work open to interpretation? Or do you think the viewer should engage with your work in a specific way?

FH: In general I don’t think art should need an explanation before you encounter it. You don’t have to like or understand the work, but you can notice what questions or feelings it brings to you. Then, if you have thoughts that you want to share, we can talk about it and it might give us both new ideas.

AT: How do you understand when a work is finished?

FH: I’m more preoccupied with questions concerning whether a piece is good enough or not, and what that means.

AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from? Do you find inspiration outside or it’s all inside you?

FH: I prefer not to work too dependent on inspiration but rather to maintain an active studio routine. And by that I don’t necessarily mean producing a lot. Not all of the work done in the studio turns into finished pieces, but it leads me somewhere, to a next step or a new idea. I want to be in an ongoing process, then all sorts of things can inspire me. I rarely work in the studio more than four hours per day. The rest of the time I want to get impressions elsewhere, through reading, walking, and collecting materials for example, that informs my work.

AT: Are there any artists who influenced your works? Why?

FH: Some artists that I admire are Klara Lidén, Thu Van Tran, Agnes Martin, and Roni Horn, to name a few. I can see connections to ideas of movements like Arte Povera and Mono-ha. Some examples of literature and theory that have had an impact on my work are writings by Willy Ørskov, Jane Bennett, Rebecca Solnit, Georges Perec and Agnes Martin.

AT: How important is for you the role of social media?

FH: I use Instagram as a tool to document a sculptural gaze connected to my practice, mostly from city environments when I travel, or in every day life. It’s a good platform for publishing those kind of process related images. I also use it to inform about upcoming exhibitions etc.

AT: What do you find to be the most challenging or daunting thing about pursuing art? What is the most rewarding part of working as an artist?

FH: The best and at the same time hardest thing is that there’s no right or wrong. You can’t do art disconnected from other people, so It’s a strength to help each other, listen to peoples thoughts and get influenced. But at the same time, peoples opinions are always subjective and in the end you have to trust yourself, to make it meaningful. It’s a balance that you constantly have to find.

AT: What are your plans and expectations for the future?

FH: I just arrived to Belgrade where I will stay for two months on a residence. I’m soon having an exhibition here that I will produce with a very short amount of time which I’m both exited and a bit stressed about. In the summer I will go to the north of Sweden to work in a studio at Ricklundgården. I haven’t been to any residencies before so I’m curious to see how it will influence my work and ideas.