Heidi Hanh

Region: Northeast

My paintings investigate the traditional concerns of figurative painting while describing psychological landscapes of the female mind and body in which the lines between the self and the exterior world are blurred. The materiality of the painting, with its densely layered surfaces, enhances the depth of the females’ interior lives presented in the narratives. Their bodies, sinuous and fluid, assimilate with the flat backgrounds and the conventions of their environments. Through distinctive and delimitative lines shaping them, they are entirely aware of the part they have to play in society, yet unconcerned with judgments and expectations. Through the mundane activities they engage in, such as walking, reading text messages, or waiting for the bus, I portray women who don’t have to pose for the picture.