Hannah Lees work alternates between her exploration of circularity and linearity - sometimes tracking modulating self-sustaining systems, at other times following a process by which an object is permanently transformed. She is particularly interested in how civilisations form and end around an ever-changing relationship between what is valued and what is discarded. Her work is abstract, in the sense that it does not reproduce existing cultural conditions for the sake of critique or documentary, rather, she combines unexpected elements in order for new connections to arise. 

She is particularly concerned with activating the affective potential of objects. Her work is focused towards an understanding of the essential nature of the materials she use’s as well as allowing space for shifts in context in order to disrupt interpretation and allow for new meaning.

Comprised of beach-combed findings from the banks of rivers and various beaches from around the world. ‘Tablets’ objects are combined with other elements, such as, copper dust, mica flakes and Chinese Ink, and embedded in plaster forms reminiscent of ancient artefacts used as forms of documentation. Lee’s has used Beehive Honeycomb frames; the honeycomb removed and the wire amateurs act as dividers to formalise the display. The use of Beehive Frames is to emphasise the sense of the Tablets (like the frames extracted from the collective Hive) being composed of isolated elements that form a larger collection of documentation, personal narrative and archiving.

selected works