Wisdom dwells in the Heart
This is my letter to you, who want to know where I come from, where the roots of my art lie and why I paint the way I do. I write it openly, because I believe that background and origins are always visible in the work, whether the artist intends it or not.
I have drawn since I was a child. Always and everywhere, with whatever I could find. Drawing opened a door to the world of imagination and taught me to respect my own inner voice before I even knew how to name it as such. That I only understood much later. My parents supported my artistic ambitions as best they could. There was always drawing paper, colours and an easel in my room. The field easel I received as a Christmas gift in my teens is still with me. It is worn and frail, but I love it for exactly that reason: it represents the trust placed in me at a time when I needed it most.
I knew I wanted to be an artist. I studied, visited museums, worked towards my goal. Then at twenty-two I started my own family, and painting gradually moved to the background. Rightly so. Motherhood is the most meaningful thing in my life: it has changed me, grown me, and taught me to see the world with resilience, through eyes that are sometimes tired but always grateful.
There followed a long pause from making art. I worked day jobs, contributed to supporting our family, and at the same time built a career in mental health, substance abuse and therapeutic work. In 2018, by a series of coincidences, I began sketching again. I did not yet know what that was leading towards. In 2019 I was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. It stopped everything and forced me to ask myself what I truly wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to. I left my job and changed direction. Coming face to face with my own mortality lit something in me that I no longer wanted, and no longer could, extinguish. And so I returned to what I had wanted to do since I was a child...
I am now 57 years old and doing my best to listen to the artist's voice within me. I believe that honesty about my own roots shows in my work, and to my mind that is the only way to make art that carries deeper meaning.
Wisdom dwells in the Heart. With warmth, Hanna
