Hannah Olivia Nelson

http://hannaholivianelson.com/

artist statement:
My work embodies the struggle to situate oneself in place and time, physically and emotionally. I am driven by an acute awareness of my inability to remember my own past. This makes my personal history, sense of self, and context for present experience feel malleable and at times entirely ungraspable. I operate with a sense of constant disorientation, but feeling lost in this way causes me to look with great attention and feel with great intensity. In response to this I make photographs of my environment that incite the wavering feelings of familiarity, uncertainty, longing, and anticipation that I experience in my navigation of the world. Fragmented narratives provide evidence of unspecified past and incipient events. Artifacts of daily life point to the absent and unknown. Confounding vistas create a sense of physical instability. Across all subject matter, my images question the solidity of who we are and where we stand.

what do you love about CCA’s MFA in Studio Practice program?

I chose to attend CCA primarily because it is a completely interdisciplinary program. While I work exclusively in photography, receiving criticism from a diverse community of artists continually challenges me to examine my practice in new ways and helps me situate my work within a broader art context. And what really makes CCA exceptional to me is the plethora of incredible artists I get to work with one-on-one. In addition to the amazing faculty and visiting artists, CCA enables and encourages students to take advising units with any artist in the area even if they are unaffiliated with the college.

anticipated graduation Date: Spring 2015