How I Ended Up Working with Murderers

B has painted a portrait of her dead mother. Alone in her studio, feverish but not ill, she moves between the painting, an overgrown vegetable garden, unpaid expenses, and the question that keeps returning: what kind of artist is she supposed to be? Meanwhile, Copenhagen is filling up with art fairs, openings, champagne, oysters, gallerists and artists who know how to dress for the occasion. B stays home. Until she gets hungry. A new literary episode of Living by Making about art, ambition, money, mothers, the body — and the strange relief of being somewhere no one is looking at you. If you like what you hear, don't hesitate to support. It is an independent podcast, only possible because of you. Thank you  https://www.mianelle.dk/living-by-making

In this episode of Living by Making, I tell the story of a woman called B. B is an artist. She lives in Denmark. She makes things, worries about money, searches for meaning, and tries to understand what it means to build a life around making. But this time, I wanted to tell the story differently. By stepping outside myself and writing in the third person, B became both me and someone I could observe from a distance. This is a story about art, identity, ambition, money, and the strange space between the life we imagine for ourselves and the life we are actually living. Support: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MiaNelle Follow: https://www.instagram.com/mianelle_studio/ Contact: https://www.mianelle.dk/

For years, I believed my fear around money came from being an artist. But what if the story began much earlier? In this episode, I reflect on ambition, art, class, family, and the beliefs we inherit without choosing them. Moving between my studio, memories of my parents, and the Danish countryside where I now live, I explore how my father's relationship with work and money quietly became my own—and what it might mean to finally let it go. This is an essay about creativity, inheritance, and the possibility of finding a different way to live. Living by Making is a podcast about building a life through art—not as a fantasy, but as a lived, ongoing practice. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mianelle_studio/ Web: https://www.mianelle.dk/

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 Instagram: mianelle_studio

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 and follow me on my Instagram: mianelle_studio

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  Email: [email protected] 

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
 🌿 Instagram: mianelle_studio
 🌿 Support my PodCast and work: patreon/mianelle

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

This episode moves between past and present, between memory and the act of making. It is about drawing, painting, and trying to hold on to something that keeps slipping away. About childhood, repetition, and the body remembering before the mind does. A reflection on what it means to make something good— and what it costs to keep trying. Follow my instagram: @mianelle_studio or visit my website www.mianelle.dk

A poetic reflection on the role of the artist in a capitalist world. Between money, meaning, and a night walk in the forest, I explore what it means to create—and belong—today. Website: www.mianelle.dk  Instgram: mianelle_studio