Hannah Parker
Identity, belonging and connection to place are at the heart of my practice that includes printmaking, watercolour, textiles, weaving, writing and storytelling.
Traditional and family stories provide narratives and language and a framework to approach my relationship to ancestral lands (Shetland, Ireland, Scotland) and Australia – the country where I live. Rich stories describe relationships to people and place and track the movement of the human diaspora. I’m interested in what happens to language and culture when it’s taken from its country of origin to a new place: what we bring and what we leave behind, what we gain and what we lose.
Watercolour and writing are ways for me to contemplate and connect these themes. I use texts for prints, artist books or a weaving of words; repeated images, colour and shapes on paper or textiles refer to the continuous evolution of stories.
Spending time to work in places of my ancestors here and afar has been exciting and confronting and opened up important connections and development of ideas. Residencies and exhibitions in these places bring new questions and conversations to my work, to our continuously unfolding stories.
Artist Biography
Hannah has a Bachelor of Creative Arts from University of Wollongong, majoring in printmaking and writing. She works in remote and local Indigenous communities in Far North Queensland and Cape York Peninsula, facilitating printmaking and weaving workshops in Community Art Centres. Hannah collaborates with, and mentors, individual artists. She also runs storytelling workshops in local schools and community programs. Since 2000 Hannah has regularly had solo exhibitions of her prints and paintings; and participates in group exhibitions. Her work is in collections in Australia, USA and Italy.
The artist lives and works in Cairns, a regional city located in far northern tropical Australia. Along with reading and writing essays and short stories, Hannah loves being in remote places and immersed in our natural environment.
Please contact Hannah regarding sale of work.
