Hannah is an artist, curator and d/Deaf activist, originally from Leicester. Having previously worked within the exhibitions team at Nottingham Contemporary and the programme team at Wysing Arts Centre, Hannah now works as co-programme director at Grand Union, Birmingham, alongside access consultation work.
Concerned with how long-term research can inform and be informed by collectivisation, she is influenced by interdisciplinary social practices and invested in art forms whereby practitioners, makers and publics are brought together. Based on open dialogue and listening Hannah works with the materiality of curatorial practice, performance, film, writing and convening to collectively imagine a path towards the spaces we want to experience.
Rooted in a desire to unpack the structural barriers to this possibility and reimagine the potentialities of embodied and spatial investigation, Hannah's work is based on a foundation of hospitality, ecology, generosity and invitation; exploring the nuances of communication and thinking through sensory deprivation/sensory gain. Hannah's work extrapolates a practice at the intersection of access, equity and embodied transformations.
Collaborating under the moniker of Dyad Creative with artist Théodora Lecrinier between 2014-2019, this was an artistic partnership exploring performance, administration, collaboration and failure. The duo developed performance-led work, interactive commissions, workshops, residencies and artist-led spaces supported by organisations such as, a-n, Norwich Arts Centre, East Street Arts, National Centre for Writing, Kettle’s Yard, Arts Council England.
Between 2020-2021, Hannah was selected for a curatorial residency at Wysing Arts Centre as part of Future Curators Network – a programme supporting the career development of D/deaf and Disabled Curators in partnership with DASH – and now serves as associate advisor to the programme.
Committed to long-term interdisciplinary practice, Hannah has worked with a-n, Aural Diversity, Deafroots, Collective Text, Women’s Art Library Goldsmiths, British Art Network, V&A London, National Gallery London, Eye Film Amsterdam and Eva International Ireland; and has guest lectured at Chelsea College of Art, London College of Communication and Norwich University of the Arts among others.
Hannah currently serves as Trustee for a-n Artists Information Company and Collective Text as well as sitting on the advisory panel for Two Queens Gallery, Leicester.
Currently reading: ‘Health Communism’ by Artie Vierkant and Beatrice Adler-Bolton, which you can find by clicking this link here.
contact [at] hannahwallis [dot] com