Photography
Taking photographs, to me, feels as natural as whatever I do while I am awake; having a coffee, going for a walk, messaging friends, checking emails, watering plants, taking out the trash.
I used to have cameras, now I only use my phone. I have it on me all the time anyway. No special equipment needed.
I’d say my guiding principles for images are:
I look for the not-obvious angle or subject, while traveling and in my day-to-day.
Composition is key. I am always aware that I am translating 3D to 2D.
I enjoy the whole process, taking the photographs, editing them and posting/sharing them online.
At the moment I am looking at ways to turn my photographs into printed products for sale. I am leaning towards book form rather than wall art. I adore books. Books have an intimacy, a privacy, a 1:1 that wall art doesn’t have.
A happy dream is to do a book, combining my photography, illustration and writing.
Illustration
With illustration, the focus for me is process rather than result. I find it helpful to relax, zone out, go trance. The science behind it is that one switches hemispheres in the brain, from the verbal to the non-verbal.
There is no goal for me to develop a particular style in a particular medium. I wander freely.
Simple tools, pen and paper. Always a pen and the journal in my bag. Along with water, wallet, earphones and phone.
Occasionally I make a point of using special paper and art materials. I have experimented with drawing digitally, on computer using the mouse. It is ok, but it is a different vibe, I prefer on paper rather than on screen.
That happy dream: a book, combining my photography, illustration and writing.
Instagram, for me, is a great place both to share my art in a daily-life way or share my daily life as an artist and connect with other creatives or connect with others who do things creatively e.g. gardening, dressing up, comedy, astrology, pet grooming, there really is no limit.
@shesawanja
Writing
To write something about writing.
Where would I be without it? Unimaginable. I’d probably have a different personality.
I carry around a journal and pencil case like they are emotional support animals. I like the act of writing, long hand especially. And it is so useful. A great way to pass time or spend it. Thinking. Praying. Venting. Calming Down. Giving. Receiving.
Website
I started this website in early 2025. It is the 4th website I’ve had since 2011 for my art endeavours. And who knows there may even be more in future. With every site there has been a different intention. My life circumstances have been different and my relationship to art and myself have changed. With this site I have 2 goals, one is a PORTFOLIO, a place where people can go in their own time and l look at what art I make, either out of personal or professional interest. The other goal is SHARING. For me to get into the habit of and get good at sharing. I am sharing the human experience as sensed through my unique filter, the filter that is Anja Cornelia. That is what I share, how I’d like to share it is: beautifully, elegantly, simply with joy and in harmony.
Reading List
Understorey: A Year Among Weeds by Anna Chapman Parker, Duckworth, 2024
Looking Down at the Stars: Life Beneath the Waves by Christina Riley, Saraband, 2025
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, Canongate, 2023
The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion by Moshe Feldenkrais, Frog Books and Somatic Resources, 1985/2002
Women Who Run With The Wolves: Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Random House Group, 1992
Writing Down The Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg, Shambhala, 2016
Write For Life: A Toolkit for Writers by Julia Cameron, Souvenir Press, 2023
We Need Your Art: Stop F*cking Around And Make Something by Amie McNee, Ebury Press, 2025
The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, Harper Collins Publishers, 2008
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, Penguin Books, 2016
Things I Don’t Want to Know by Deborah Levy, Penguin Books, 2013
The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy, Penguin Books, 2018
Real Estate by Deborah Levy, Penguin Books, 2021
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2015
The Sheltering Desert: A Classic Tale of Escape and Survival in the Namib Desert by Henno Martin, AD Donker Publishers, 1957 English Edition
The Rose Field: The Book Of Dust Volume Three by Philip Pullman, David Fickling Books, 2025
A Scientific Autobiography by Aldo Rossi, The MIT Press, 1981
Sea and Shore Cornwall: Common and Curious Findings by Lisa Woollett, Zart Books, 2013
Portrait of West Penwith by Sue Lewington, Truran, 2008
Tatterdemalion by Sylvia V. Linsteadt and Rima Staines, Unbound, 2017
Becoming Horses by Disa Wallander, Drawn and Quarterly, 2020
Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales by Angela Carter and Corinna Sargood, Virago Press, 2005
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, 1813
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso by Dante, translated by Robin Kirkpatrick, Penguin Classics, 2012
The Little Gardener by Emily Hughes, Flying Eye Books, 2015
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943