My full name is…
Annika Ingrid Hanne Gladys Hein.
But my friends call me…
Annika or Anna.
I live with…
My partner Odin, our daughter Vahla Inès, our dog Arlo, and as of a few weeks ago, our son Erling Astor Ocean.
My bedroom window…
Get’s the best light and looks out to the trees.
I grew up…
With my younger sister and our three cats, in a lot of different houses all over Australia.
Vahla’s name came from…
Our Scandinavian heritage. It was a name I remembered from a childhood holiday.
I first discovered art…
When I watched The Nutcracker on television. I was about three and it was Christmas Eve.
JANE magazine is…
A slow art movement, considering and challenging the dialogue around creative intention and consumption.
I find inspiration…
Is unable to be forced. That feeling of being inspired is, for me, conducive to the act of surrender.
A poem…
Wilde Geese by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Writing helps me…
To preserve my memories, process my thoughts, and make sense of the world.
I create because…
It’s the only way to know how to process and communicate in reflection of my true self.
Right now I am…
Growing another baby.
In the future I hope to…
Write a book and see my children become conscious and gentle members of the next generation.
My favourite place in the world is…
With my family, anywhere where the air is cool and oxygen rich; Daylesford and Paris are both pretty sentimental and special to our family.
You can usually find me…
Outside in nature, with my daughter and son.
A family tradition I hope to pass down…
To greet each New Year with a sunrise swim.
The perfect morning is…
Slow and intentional.
The soundtrack to my life…
Alexi Murdoch’s album ‘Four Songs.’ Or ‘This Is How We Walk on the Moon,’ a song by Arthur Russell.
I am where I am today because of…
My deep belief in love and beauty and also because of the strength and support of Odin in life, and love, and art.
I feel womanly when…
I get out of the shower with wet hair and damp skin.
I feel safe when…
I’m with Odin.
My favourite body part is…
My stomach.
My favourite colour is…
Violet grey.
I relax when…
I can take my time.
My favourite thing to do with my family is…
To dance in the lounge room or swim in the ocean.
My favourite childhood memory…
Meeting my baby sister, and reading Little Women.
I am hopeful for…
Nature’s ability to heal herself when given the proper chance.
I am looking forward to…
More milky mornings and the softness of newborn skin.
Photographed by Annika's partner Odin Wilde at Joints, Byron Bay.