Hana Carpenter - Suspended Movement

Hana Carpenter’s work stems from a fascination with the parallels between painting and the imagery, investigative technology and language of the human and natural sciences.

Sonography is used across disciplines such as archeology, oceanography and anatomy to ‘see’ beneath a surface. It transmits sound waves into the area being examined until they hit a boundary between tissues and bounce back, translating kinetic energy into an image.

Carpenter utilises the fluidity of paint, linseed oil and water to intuitively build and erase organic form. The energy expended by the body in mark-making is captured; suspended movement, a dance term that refers to the momentary stillness after force is dispersed, speaks of the artist’s process and resulting imagery.

In the Victorian era, the potential of photography and the newly discovered X-ray to visualise invisible phenomena influenced artists such as Edvard Munch and fuelled frenzied popular interest. Ectoplasm was the term given to the ethereal substance purportedly emitted from the body during a spiritualist trance, widely visualised through hoax photography. The term is borrowed from biology, being the viscous outer layer of a cell.

Cyanobacteria use photosynthetic pigments and various forms of chlorophyll, which absorb energy from light. The Cyanophyta pigment is used in the photographic cyanotype process. Combining a dark blue and dark brown pigment creates the terraverde earth colour in Carpenter’s paintings.

The frames are made out of an old waterbed base, the discarded remnant of a 1980’s craze that attempted to give humans the sensation of a closer connection with nature. This precious native Rimu is given new life to frame the artist’s reflections on the subterrain of the human body and the world it inhabits.

Hana Carpenter is a New Zealander of Scottish, Irish and Danish descent, ngāi te Tiriti te iwi.
She lives in Te Awakairangi/Lower Hutt with her partner Samuel and their 4 children. Carpenter has been a finalist in the Wellington Regional Art Awards, the Walker and Hall Waiheke Art Awards, the NZ Painting and Printmaking Awards and the Wallace Awards. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam, Auckland University, and exhibits in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland and Pōneke/Wellington.

Instagram: @hanacarpenter.hc