Gallery Show title: A Narrative, Rewritten

Solo Exhibition by Hannah Aaron

statement from the Artist

“Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;” Psalm 144:1

My work is about reclaiming my feminine identity which had been previously shaped by societal pressures and experiences from childhood. I danced for nine years in ballet classes, which now serves as the source imagery for my oil paintings. As a young girl, I struggled with feeling “good enough”. The treatment of the slippers in my paintings are evocative of the obsessive perfectionism, crippling anxiety, and overwhelming pressure I felt in my youth. My affiliation between perfection, performance and intrinsic value followed me into adulthood, clouding my perspective of femininity. Describing boxing gloves serve as a counter perspective, sourced from Biblical scriptures. In a way, painting them serve as a form of therapy, prayer, and declaration of self-worth to my present reality. For me, the “fight” is not a physical one, but a spiritual and mental one. My fight looks rewriting the narrative of my past and agreeing with God’s thought towards me, which is this: I am valuable. And that will never change. Painting from life is important to me. When I paint from a still life arrangement or a figure model, my interaction with the object or person keeps my thoughts in the present moment, rather than dwelling on the past. The application of my paintings include areas of refinement, nuances in cast shadows and reflected light, as well as expressive line work, dry brush and thick impasto.