MUNTHE ART MONDAY: LOUISE BONDE HANSEN

Instagram: @louisebondehansen
Website: www.louisebondehansen.com
Images: Rine Rodin

Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do.

I’m an artist educated from Goldsmiths, London, and the art academy in Vienna. I work primarily with sculptures and installations.

At the moment, I have an exhibition called “Neither Day nor Night” at Nikolaj Kunsthal. This exhibition is created around a longing for a refuge, where one can find comfort and rest. As part of the exhibition there are a number of protective figures like life sized Saint Bernard dogs. I found the inspiration from the cartoons you see as a kid, where the Saint Bernard dog had a whiskey barrel around its neck and saved people in the snow. Besides that, I have made several reliefs hanging on the wall. They are made of jesmonite and covered in loose eyeshadow and mica, and I imagine they work as protective charms.

Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career?

It has probably had an impact in terms of salary and exposure. It is nothing new that women earn less than men, but in the art industry the salaries and work conditions are pretty bad to begin with, so it doesn’t get better by being a woman. That being said, I have some privileges because I’m white and cisgender – privileges I know that some of my other colleagues doesn’t necessarily have.

Can you name some other female (artist) that inspires you and explain why they do so?

I would love to experience Judy Chicago’s piece ‘The Dinner Party’, both because it’s an iconic feminist piece, where the table is set for some important historical female characters, but also because it looks insane and is compelling with its theatrical scene and all the beautiful ceramic pieces and the embroidered fabric.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a female artist?

I think it’s deteriorating that so many people have an opinion about how I as a female artist prioritize my work- and family life. On one hand I face the prejudice that I’m not being serious enough, because I chose to have a child and on the other hand, I’m met with the perception that I have a bigger responsibility for my child’s wellbeing than my partner has and I shouldn’t use so much time on my art. This is all due to the fact that I’m a woman. I try not to care so much about what other people think, but I’m so angry that some people think they are entitled to have an opinion about it in the first place.

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

I use a lot of materials that we use in our everyday life. For example soap, eyeshadow, fruit coloring, isomalt and nylon fibers that use to give toys its velvety surface among other things. I hope that people notice the tactility of the pieces and the intimacy that lives within them. For my current exhibition at Nikolaj Kunsthal I have really enjoyed the process it was to make the pieces. That is not always the case.

Sometimes it can feel like a struggle where the pieces can’t really find its form. In this case, it felt like one piece let to another, and I hope the spectators can sense a little bit of that joy when they see the pieces.

Louise is wearing our JALLEN dress.