Resisting emotional and narrative escalation, Atherton paints gestures that hover between intimacy and withdrawal. Cropped and held in suspension, these moments; grips, kisses, twists, folds, remain unresolved.

The act of painting fixes what is inherently fluid. Held too long, these positions would begin to ache, yet here they are sustained indefinitely, caught between tension and stillness.

Atherton is drawn to small reminders of presence: everyday intimacies that are visually slight and mighty in abundance. There is expansion to be found in the simple. Though the conditions of an artist’s life may suggest scarcity, her way of seeing renders it otherwise.

Hannah Atherton is a painter currently based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Hannah recontextualizes and celebrates familiar and tender moments, offering fresh perspectives on memories and narratives. Atherton works with oil and oil pastels to loosely build the foundations of an image, then refines and renders delicately; a practice of both spontaneity and precision. Her work reflects her desire to surrender to loosening and letting go in a world accustomed to rationalisation.