( Artist Statement )

As a research-led artist, I delve deep into the realms of hybridity, rhythms, and psycho-geography in response to cultural and social migration, with a deep commitment to unravelling personal and collective histories. My practice exists at the intersections of sound, sculpture, installation and moving-image.

My current focus lies in installation and collage as part of an expanded practice, utilising layered imagery and sound to delve into concepts of nationality, distribution, and ultimately, a sense of belonging. This exploration has led me to engage with topics like philately, cultural heritage, and adapted audio-visual essays as means to transcend borders. I reflect on personal and collective histories that also enable me to pivot around my own origins of Welsh and Algerian-Berber descent; considering how positionality is in constant affect to how we relate to the past, see ourselves in the now and move forward from here. At present, my thoughts are influenced by the works of writers Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall, and Assia Djebar.

In the past, I have embarked on projects that involve retracing free speech movements, exploring survival tactics and rituals, as well as examining ways to navigate and occupy public spaces as strategies for subverting economic and environmental precarity. Additionally, I have explored the edges of the Union Canal, employing listening as a means to comprehend its intricate relationship with people and ecosystems, thus embracing multiplicity. Emmie McLuskey, the Curator of the Commissions Programme at Channels, Edinburgh Art Festival, has remarked on my work, stating, "Using hydrophones as if she were taking its pulse...Through Hannan's work, we are reminded that understanding takes time and that multiple positions for study are part of composition. Listening is a daily practice that needs continual care and attention."

Previous presentations include: Edinburgh Art Festival (2022), Well Projects in Margate (2022), CCA Annex (2022), Sonica, Civic Room in Glasgow (2022), DADAA in Fremantle, Australia (2020), NTS Tate Lates at Tate Modern in London (2017), REWIRE in The Hague (2017), Sound Thought at CCA in Glasgow (2017), and Gallery Unit as part of Glasgow International (2016).

Sonically, my artistic beginnings often emerge from the sonic realm, utilising techniques like sampling, electronics, musique concrète, and analogue recordings. I employ samples and layers of audio materials to create alternate possibilities, reclaim parallel histories, and reimagine connections as a foundation for my work. These processes are heavily inspired by pioneering figures such as Nicolas Collins, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and Éliane Radigue. Notable sonic presentations have taken place at events like Savvy Contemporary with Archives sites in Berlin; New Radicalisms, (A)WAKE in Rotterdam, Counterflows Festival, Glasgow, Tate Lates at Tate Modern, Cafe Oto, REWIRE Festival, and the Glasgow Film Festival at Tramway for 'This is Now: Film and Video after Punk'. Additionally, I engage in an ongoing and ever-evolving collaborative work titled 'Re-Imagining In Conversation', alongside artist Shamica Ruddock, together we are both fellows at Akademie Schloss Digital Solitude x Liquid Architecture working towards 'Re-Imagining In Conversation: A New Poetics'. Currently, I am the Rhubaba Choir's artist in residence in a long-term project 'Mixed Signals: Collective Tuning'.

Collaboration and programming form vital components of my artistic process, lending support and depth to my research methodologies. I have contributed to and curated events such as the September Film Programme for Dardishi Film Festival, a festival focused on North African and Middle Eastern Womxn's cinema (2021), and Peaks at Paper Mountain in Boorloo/Perth, Australia, where I served as the Artistic Director and Co-Producer (2018/19). I have also served as a committee member at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow (2021-22). I hold a BA (Hons) in Sculpture and Environmental Art from Glasgow School of Art and was a 2020-21 Artist Associate at Open School East.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

( About this website )