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  • Bianca Vinther

What’s something most unusual you’ve done + your new year’s resolutions for 2022

Let's take both a look backwards and a look forwards!


Painting of a galaxy
"My galaxy". Mixed media on paper by Bianca Vinther.

Because I firmly believe that an artist is unconventional, nonconformist, out-of-ordinary, unique, and different from everyone else, and I seem to be kind of obsessed with this idea, I’m curious to know: what have you done so far that’s most unusual? And what are your new year’s resolutions for 2022?


Don’t start to list your accomplishments of planned objectives, tasks, and duties. Please. That’s not the point here. There’s nothing wrong with accomplishments. We all take pride in them, don’t we? But lots of things you’ve achieved to date are things that many other people around the globe have accomplished, too.


I want you to think of something most unusual you’ve done so far. Something unconventional, nonconformist, unfamiliar, unique, and different that nobody else (or very few people on Planet Earth) has ever experienced.


I want you to think of an experience, not a result. Because success is never so interesting as a challenge or the road, which is life itself. This is not about the outcome. It’s first and foremost about the process in which you engage.


It is not the light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” (Frederick Douglass)

I’ll start with myself. On my list below, you’ll find a selection of the most out-of-ordinary and overwhelmingly positive things I’ve done that gave me an awesome experience, harmed nobody, and had a happy end 😊


Some of the most extra-ordinary experiences I had

  • Drew on every inch of my grandparents’ living room’s walls with pencils and leaves and wasn’t sorry (it happened around the age of 6). Granny had a shock but survived it (luckily).

  • Met a queen, a king, a princess, and a prince (several times)

  • Gave an interview on French Radio RFI (Radio France International) at the age of 12

  • Saw Ralph Fiennes live in Hamlet in 1995

  • Walked an 8 km pitch-dark road to the Mount Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine after midnight without a pocket torch

  • Hiked about 3 hours in the Theban mountains of the Valley of the Kings without a map or compass and landed surprisingly in front of the tomb of King Amenhotep III

  • Published a pioneer work in the field of Coptic epigraphy along with a series of Ancient Egyptian artifacts (gravestones and archaeological textiles) from Cairo, London, and Chemnitz, which have never been published before

  • Rode a bus for 36 hours from Hannover to Bucharest, survived an accident on the route in Hungary, and arrived at my destination in one piece

I could add a lot more for travel and meeting personalities, like shaking hands with Helmut Schmidt, but at a certain point, it would get a bit too long and maybe boring. Besides, it’s more interesting to look forward than behind myself.


Hand stretched towards the rising sun and the sky