Hannah Huntley - artist statement

My work is inspired by the experiences of adolescent girls discovering how society wants them to look through children’s stories, social media, movies and pop culture. This time in adolescence is important because it signifies the age when people first start to view themselves in relation to society and the world around them. They quickly discover that society wants women to strive for an unrealistic and often unattainable idea of beauty.

Interview with Hannah Huntley

FM: Where are you from? How did you arrive in Reno?

Hannah: I was born in Los Angeles, California but moved to Reno at a very young age because my parents were from Reno and that is where their extended families lived.

FM: What made you choose the BFA program at the University of Nevada, Reno?

Hannah: I originally decided on UNR because it was the best fit for me financially. When I first started school, I was not sure what I wanted to study or what I wanted to do with my career. I took a few Women’s Studies classes and felt very passionate about that subject and I declared myself a Women’s Studies major. It was not until my sophomore year that I took my first printmaking class and fell in love with the medium. During that class, my professor Eunkang Koh told me about the BFA program and I decided that was what I wanted to shoot for. I was accepted into the program the following year and I believe that it was the best move for my work and my future. It really shaped me into the person and the artist that I am today.

FM: Your theme in your solo show, Imperfect Alterations, is an overarching one of body consciousness and alterations, can you discuss your audience and the meaning behind the characters you made.

Hannah: The main goal of Imperfect Alterations was to comment on the absurdity behind many of societies unrealistic beauty expectations and the very often sad and painful results these expectations have on women. My work is mostly for women because beauty expectations are mainly targeted at women. The characters are representation of everyday women who do not feel like they are beautiful or good enough because of the countless unrealistically beautiful bodies that they see every day on social media, television, and magazines. The printed images show creatures that have already altered themselves to mimic human or insect characteristics that their society thinks are beautiful. These insects add captions to make their audience believe that they are naturally beautiful, or that they are “living their best lives” because of their newfound beauty. These images mirror the images I see of “social media influencers” or celebrities that have made me or others feel less-than because they also dawn those unrealistic characteristics. The soft sculptures represent the other side of social media. They represent insecure girls or women that are exposed to an overwhelming amount of unrealistic body images and ultimately give into societal peer pressure to change themselves. These creatures dawn the illusion that these painful and superficial changes will make them truly happy.

FM: Utilizing “feminine work” plays heavily in your exhibition/work, stitching, soft sculpture, etc can you speak about this?

Hannah: Because my work mainly focuses on the female experience, I felt it was incredibly fitting to use a medium traditionally thought of as “women’s work.” I use textiles, embroidery, and quilting to create my soft sculpture creatures because I am commenting on the current beauty stereotypes that women face in their everyday lives and the way women often feel forced to alter their natural image in order to fit the current societal requirement, just as they would alter clothing to fit their bodies. I want to comment on the way we change and wear our skin, hair and sometimes bones to fit a certain style or standard like we would change our outfits. I want to discuss how women alter our bodies voluntarily, and sometimes happily to meet societal expectations, although this kind of alteration is a response to beauty standards thrust upon women to make them feel compelled to change to compete with the ever-changing societal beauty demands.

FM: I am really interested in how you embrace “girl-ness”, from the beautiful retro dresses you wear to the color palette in your own clothing to the exhibition work…..who or what do you think this stems from?

Hannah: Yes, I have always been a very feminine or “girly” person. I think that my femininity has undoubtedly been influenced by the heavily gendered society that I have been raised in, but it is also what I personally enjoy and how I feel comfortable representing myself. The overly feminine and teenage color palette and aesthetic is meant as satirical commentary of our societies gender norms, the need for young girls to grow and mature faster than they are ready, and the obsession with youth. I wanted to portray these somewhat creepy and unappealing imaginary insects changing themselves to appeal to both human society and the insects around them. They dawn themselves with characteristic that would be seen as feminine or sexy or mature and it ends up hurting them in some way. The sculptural aspects of this exhibition demonstrate the painful and time-consuming labor that it takes to change themselves into whatever society enjoys at the time. The prints in the exhibition show the image of unrealistic and altered insect bodies that are portrayed as natural or the norm and/or something to strive towards.

FM: There is incredible attention to detail in your work from the screen printing of fabrics with pubic hair for the poor creatures…, to the hash tags on insectagram

Hannah: I am a very detail oriented person and I have always loved imagining worlds separate from our own. This particular work is very narrative driven and the small details allowed me to become fully enveloped in the world that my creatures live in and better tell their individual stories. It also creates a more immersive experience for my viewer to see familiar objects or sayings translated into a new context. I believe that it helps the viewer relate to this world and feel a bit of themselves in my creatures.

FM: Will you be making an insectagram app in the future?

Hannah: Originally I planned on making an Insectgram inside of the already existing Instagram but I decided it was countering my original intention behind the work. I used prints to display the Insectgram in my show instead of a digital display, not only because it is the medium I love but to work with but because it slows down the intake of the imagery. I think as a society we have become accustom to quickly scrolling through images online without really processing what we are seeing. I wanted to slow that process down to reveal the unhealthy body image that it can create. I may try it someday but I am still debating what kind of effect the change in medium would have on the overall message.

FM: What are you going to do now that your BFA is awarded?

Hannah: I will be applying to graduate schools this winter and hopefully continue to learn and develop my artistic voice in a master’s program.

FM: Thank you so much Hannah for allowing us into your magical world, for your thoughtful work and thought provoking responses. Where can readers find you and your work?

Hannah: I have a website called hannahhuntley.com and I post photos of my work on my Instagram @hannahlizhuntley.

 Interview and portraits by Frances Melhop