Frieda Hughes was born in 1960 in London, daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. She studied at St Martin’s School of Art and has since held numerous exhibitions. Her first poetry collection, Wooroloo, was published in 1999, named after the hamlet where she lived in Australia, and she is author of several children’s books. In 2002 she was winner of an Invention and Innovation award by NESTA for her project Forty Years. She lives in Wales with her husband, the Hungarian artist Laszlo Lukacs. Interview by Anita Sethi
Fri 30 May 2008 00.01 BST First published on Fri 30 May 2008 00.01 BST
"My problem is that I am the daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, but I wanted to be an individual. But we are, of course, a product of our parents. In denying them, you deny part of who you are. It’s taken me years to be comfortable with that"
"I’m confused, happy and overworked, and that’s expressed in the painting on this table. It represents dual purpose: my version of giving something new life, being constructive. It’s such a throwaway society; I’m somebody who used to darn her own socks"
"This is the last packet of cigarettes I smoked. I have a problem with anything ruling an individual, such as an addiction. I went round the world on a Dutch freighter once, but my whole life was spent thinking, ‘Where am I going to get my next cigarette from?’ I thought I’d wait until the stress was over before giving up smoking, but stress is never over. Life is stress. When I gave up, my rage and despair were unbelievable. I cried for weeks"
"I love being out in the landscape on a motorbike. As I get older and everything goes south, this helps: you sit on the bike, and everything gets pulled back by the wind"
"The moment I met Laszlo on a garden path, we fell in love. He gave me a hug and he smelled right; he smelled clean. We moved in after our first date without knowing each others’ surnames. This painting is about that explosion, like being in a bubble of light"
"This is a piece of dolorite from the Australian desert. It started off the size of my house but, over the years, it sheds itself. I’m fascinated by the way nature works"
"I like glamour. I love working on this beaded dress, which represents my inability to watch TV without doing something else. I can’t waste time. In 1992, I took a week off and burned out. I got chronic fatigue after having a holiday"
"I have a double life. I spend the daylight hours in my wellies in the garden, but I feel great in heels. I’ve always been both a city and a country girl"
"The garden keeps me fit. Without my cement mixer, I wouldn’t have built it. I have loved plants since I was a kid. I overwatered them and killed them with my love"
