SUSANNA GREVEN

Lives and works in Cologne/Germany

First of all, what is art? 

The definition for art that I have come up with, which seems to work best for me, is that anything anyone calls art is art. 

I like expressing emotions—to have others feel what it is I’m feeling when I’m creating the work.

If we look at other kinds of creative activity we can see how various forms can all exist and be valid at the same time. I’ve made what I think of as art since I was a child, initially drawings, then photographs, paintings, side specific installations, videos, and so on.

I’m trying to capture in drawings the things that I see and feel, as a way of recording their beauty and power and soul, so that I can return to those things and relive them. In that way, I try to have some sense of control in a chaotic world.

I want to somehow communicate my sense of the world—that way of understanding, engaging, experiencing the world—to somebody else. I want them to be transported into the world that I have created with language.

So back to the question why I make art. 

In my case, the projects that I do allow me to meet people, travel to places and learn about subjects I didn't know about. I like to say that what I’m after is to express my life, and all the experiences my life connects with all the life around me.