With our series “An artist’s life.” we want to share the stories of the people behind the art.

For this edition of our Artist Life series, we step into the world of Olivia Nachle, a multidisciplinary creator whose life has always been guided by art and presence. With an artist mother and an early start into writing and photography — crafting handmade books and pitching them to publishers at age ten, camera in hand by eleven — Olivia’s creative journey began with intuition and boldness. Today, her work explores what it means to keep that childlike spark alive amidst the chaos of being human. Her words and images are a deep breath — an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and return to the beauty of what’s already here.

presente consciente.

there’s what the mind thinks.
what the body feels.
and
there’s the whisper.

voices in conversation.

and I,
whenever I can,
become the observer of it all.
(*inhale*)

to *be able to*, here,
means allowing myself to feel everything the moment holds.
feel it on my skin,
see with invisible eyes,
hear the sound of silence.
peel away the layers until I reach that subtle state that fits,
that lingers around us,
but isn’t meant to be touched,
nor fully understood.
(*exhale*)

some things are made only to be felt.
that’s what the present is.
(*inhale – exhale*)

space–time slipping through the fingers.
but just as it vanishes,
there it is—
ready to be found.

when I become the observer of this encounter
(*inhale*)
—mind, body, and energy—
that’s when I unlock the gate
to this pulsing, vibrating, glowing frequency,
this cocoon where ideas are born already dancing.
to me,
that is creativity.

presence is what weaves all my parts together—
the photographer,
the storyteller crafting handmade films,
the creator of sensory experiences,
the breathwork guide,
and every other version of me that ever was or will be—
(*exhale*) .

I’m a pathfinder of presence.
I move, a lot.
the world calls me constantly,
and I go.
always in movement,
in a quest that is, in fact, a constant encounter
with ways of being here.
so many paths
leading to the same place.

I know this much:
when this channel of presence is open,
creativity finds its way to overflow through us
(*inhale*)
and almost immediately,
so does consciousness.
about the self.
about the miracle of being alive as a human
on a planet as lush as ours.
about our role
here and now.

(*exhale*)

part of me fears the future,
doubts our capacity as a species
to do what must be done to not destroy it all.
but another part believes—strongly—
that the way forward is called:
conscious presence.

so,
I’ve made a vow with all my selves
that wherever I am,
I will *be*.
I will allow my body, mind, and energy
to converse,
to inspire me,
to dance among themselves
and let me reach this sacred place of presence,
of creativity—
so I can fill myself with it,
and turn the invisible
into a visible that is felt.
(*exhale*)

Olivia Nachele