Meet the incredible Hannah Coleman-Smith, a semi-realist portraiture specialist and cover artist of Coromind magazine’s February 2023 edition
My name is Hannah Coleman-Smith. I have been creating since I was a little kid, and I have always been drawn to creating art depicting women, especially in nature. Art is important to me because it is one of the first forms of human expression and protestation. I make art because I want a person to feel at home in it and to feel seen. To be able to feel beautiful or to feel as though their cultural identity and hardships have been acknowledged.
My style is semi-realism portraiture. I love painting (and pretty much only paint) women. I also include animals and plants in my work. It’s really important to me to paint women, more specifically women of colour. Most of my work to date has been of Māori/Pacific Islander women. This is because I want to highlight not only the beauty of these women but confront and bring to light the societal issues that they face due to colonisation.
Women, historically, have always struggled to feel seen. I feel like it’s part of my responsibility as an artist to help them be noticed. In my creative process, I am drawn to painting and expressing emotion. I am inspired by people like Robyn Kahukiwa, Miriama Grace-Smith, Mr G Hoete, and even people like Hone Tūwhare and Witi Ihimaera.
I am currently painting from my childhood home in Auckland, in my brother’s old room we turned into a studio. I use acrylics and also paint digitally, and I am hoping to start using oils soon.
Check out more of Hannah’s work here: https://www.instagram.com/hanakowhaiart/?hl=en
