Looking for stories is always a tricky road, full of unexpected turns. That’s exactly how it was for us when looking for an interesting subject and, somehow, the subject opened the door for us – literally. While we were trying to find some people to talk to, we ended up in this almost lifeless building. Knocking on doors, finally, someone answered – it was Karin. The moment she started talking to us we were drawn in by her magnetic personality and impressed by the works she told us about. We’d found our story.
“I identify as a woman, and then as a writer”
43-year-old Karin Grand is a freelance artist local to Aarhus who’s been in the creative space for a long time. With her current projects only adding to the impressiveness of her portfolio, her goal is both for people from Aarhus to feel safe in expressing their emotions and experiences through art and to create a safe artistic space of freedom through her artistic stories.
From time to time, she also guides women through courses on spiritual rituals and the creation of safe spaces for themselves and their community, celebrating womanhood and “empowering one another”.
“I think it’s important in these Nordic countries to have these kinds of spaces,” Grand told us. “There are not many places where we consciously choose to come together as women and build a space where we can share what it means to be a woman.”
Writer, documentary filmmaker, photographer – it’s an artistic catalogue that lives up to the Grand name. She spent 5 years in Florence working on documentaries and other collaborations with Italian artists, be they filmmaking or contemporary dance choreography.
Coming back to Denmark wasn’t even a part of her original plan, but Karin Grand feels grateful for the unprecedented route to her roots in the city of smiles.
Everyone can and should create
Her most recent publication follows her desire to encourage everyone to create, including kids. The book is a collection of drawings and stories produced by fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from the primary school she went to and part of an 18-month project in the schools of Aarhus, aiming to let students see what storytelling means for them.
“This is about playing and expressing oneself while learning how to tell a story,” Grand said.
The book’s title – Tegneakrobaterne (“Drawing Acrobats”) – was inspired by the idea of highlighting the importance of having a sense of play and exploring when creating.
“Acrobats are extremely skilled since they perform such dangerous acts, so it’s a way to explain to the kids that while they are having fun, it’s important to develop those skills. The more we do that, the freer we can be. The more we can play, the more risks we can take.”
The ideas in the stories were shaped by the two writers and illustrators that were involved in the project: Christine Reinwald and Adam O. They held a two-day training with the kids to explain the process. Christine took care of the fourth and fifth graders and Adam the sixth.
Christine’s group had to create a seven-frame cartoon story with a random character and a random place. All the kids had to write on pieces of paper, put them all in bowls and then extract their two elements of the story.
The other group, slightly older, had to write a story and then a drawing related to that story. Here is one of them.
The project ended with a presentation held at the library, which all the kids, parents, and teachers attended. Each receiving a copy of a book, every kid was “excited about it all. Of course, every one of them first wanted to see their creation, but I think that’s a natural thing. And a good one.”
Even if her projects and future endeavors stay local to Aarhus, her goal as an artist and as a woman still stays relevant beyond Denmark.
Article written by Natalia Chairez and Mara Maris
