Art

Mila Halizova
Art made from nature

Archive · 5 min read

Mila Halizova is an artist who creates large-scale artworks from collected natural materials, guided by her feelings and emotions. In our conversation, we discuss her connection to nature and how it shapes her practice, and how each artwork becomes a way to clarify emotions; emotions that take form as hope, love, nostalgia, gratitude…

Mila Halizova Natural Materials Artist France - Mila Halizova: Art made from nature | Repose Archive

How would you describe what you do?

I think for me now, it's a reason to live, to live, because there were some moments, a lot of moments in my life when you finish believing in the world. And so you have only yourself in the world, and you should believe only in yourself and in your emotions, in your heart. If you do not believe in yourself, you can do nothing in the world. So for me, it was like two reasons to be alive, to enjoy life and be happy. I found this way because before it was a little bit dangerous, I lost a lot of emotions. It's like the way I make my emotions physical. For me now it's not possible to live without this and this connection between nature and emotion. It's my way of talking to the world. Maybe it sounds crazy, but I know.

You translate your emotions into something physical, like your artwork?

"Yes, because a lot of moments in life you can't explain with words. You feel a lot of emotion in only one second. What you feel at this moment you can't explain. You can explain only if you do something after. If some people understand, you are happy. For me it's the most important."

What kind of materials do you use in your artworks?

"I collect seeds, flowers, and I do big works. It's a lot of meditative minutes. When you collect a lot of acorn caps and you do an abstract portrait, you think it should be like this, but in the end it's definitely different. It's pieces of nature. If I use seeds, first it's a long process to collect. You think about different situations in your life, philosophy, what happens in the world. After you put all these feelings when you clean these things and you grow from one process to a different process. You have a lot of answers to your questions. It's like a lesson from nature."