Artist Camilla Thuv Nilsen reflects on memory, landscape, printmaking and materiality, exploring how lived experiences become contemporary artistic forms through presence, perception and material transformation.

In the work of Camilla Thuv Nilsen, landscape is not approached as a static image or a representation of place. Instead, it emerges through memory, bodily perception and material transformation. Working across printmaking, photography, textiles and sculptural forms, the artist investigates how experiences of presence can be translated into objects, surfaces and spatial encounters.

Rooted in personal memories while remaining open to contemporary questions of perception and materiality, her practice often unfolds through fragments, traces and transitions. In recent works such as Touched by a Landscape, reflective surfaces, printed textures and organic forms create a dialogue between memory and the present moment, inviting viewers to become active participants in the work itself.

For Nordrom Kunst, Camilla Thuv Nilsen reflects on the influence of place, the role of printmaking in her artistic development, and how memory continues to shape her evolving practice.

Interview with Camilla Thuv Nilsen

Nordrom Kunst: You were born and raised in Lofoten, and your work draws visual inspiration from nature and organic forms. How does the memory of that northern landscape still live inside your artistic practice today?

Camilla Thuv Nilsen: The place I come from, and the culture I was raised in, continue to influence my artistic practice in significant ways. Much of my work is rooted in a connection to the landscape, climate, and material traces of life in Northern Norway. This can take the form of specific objects, such as a worn fishing glove that belonged to my grandfather, who was a fisherman in Lofoten, or more atmospheric impressions related to weather, light, and nature.

The contrasts between darkness and light, along with the dramatic coastal landscape, create an awareness of humanity’s relationship to nature that still informs my work today. I divide my time between Lofoten and Copenhagen, and the tension between urban life and the northern archipelago has become an important space for artistic reflection. Within this space, longing and loneliness become a driving force in my work.

In my practice, I often work with memory, fragments, and transitions. I collect impressions and moments, deconstruct them, and reassemble them into new visual connections.

Nordrom Kunst: Your works often move between abstraction, printmaking, pattern and surface. What interests you most in translating natural forms into printed images, textiles or objects?

Camilla Thuv Nilsen: What interests me most is exploring how presence and connection to moments can be conveyed through artistic work and how this comes to expression in the encounter with a material.

Trained as a fashion designer, I have worked extensively with screen printing, where textiles served as my primary material. Later, in my artistic practice, I began incorporating other materials such as wood and metal, as well as graphic techniques like photogravure and cyanotype. I am particularly drawn to the slow and intricate processes of printmaking.

Nordrom Kunst: In some of your recent works, especially those connected to Touched by a Landscape, there seems to be a quiet dialogue between place, memory and material. How important is memory in your process, and how does it shape the atmosphere of a work?

Camilla Thuv Nilsen: In my recent work, Touched by a Landscape, I collect materials during long walks through Arctic landscapes. Through a state of mindful presence, I experience my surroundings sensorially, using the camera as an extension of my gaze. Along the way, I photograph what catches my attention, gathering fragments of memories and fleeting moments.

The central works in the series consist of laser-cut organic forms made from mirrored steel. The reflective surface makes the works constantly shifting and responsive, relating to the viewer, movement within the space, and the surrounding light. In this way, the work becomes anchored in the present moment. At the same time, the surfaces carry silkscreened imprints of textures from nature as processed memories from my walks through the arctic landscape.

The laser-cut organic outer forms originate from my visual and bodily perception while walking. My body moves in response to the uneven terrain and to whatever draws my gaze, and within this interaction a connection arises between body, senses, and landscape. The forms appear as visualized fragments of atmospheres and sensations that emerge through this encounter. In this way, the work invites the viewer to pause and experience the relationship between human beings, landscape, and surroundings as something mutually shaping and interconnected.

Memory, Presence and Material Transformation

Camilla Thuv Nilsen’s practice demonstrates how landscape can be carried beyond geography and transformed into lived experience. Rather than documenting a place directly, her works explore how memory settles into materials, surfaces and forms over time. Through printmaking, photography and sculptural interventions, she creates spaces where perception, movement and reflection intersect.

In Touched by a Landscape, the relationship between viewer and artwork becomes central. Reflective steel surfaces continuously change according to light, movement and presence, while printed traces of nature preserve moments gathered through walking and observation. The resulting works occupy a space between memory and immediacy, inviting a slower encounter with both landscape and self.

For more information about Camilla Thuv Nilsen and her work, visit her website www.camillathuv.com