Summary
Miya Hannan's sculptures, installations and drawings reflect her view of the world as layers and linkages of human lives and histories. Being a medical professional in a country like Japan with many superstitions, she developed the ability to perceive the world from two contrasting perspectives. She likes to use materials that echo human bodies and Japanese death rituals, such as bone ash, telephone books, fabric, branches and roots. Combining processes of repetition, layering and assembling, her work represents her understanding of the importance of accepting death on a larger level.
Hannan's artwork has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in the United States and abroad, such as Artspace Gallery in Richmond, VA, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in Sonoma, CA, R.B. Stevenson Gallery in San Diego, CA and CICA Museum in Korea. Her artist's book, a collaboration project with Brighton Press in San Diego in 2017, is now in the collections of many institutions including the Getty Research Institute, Stanford University and Harvard University. She has been awarded the Willapa Bay AiR Residency, Oysterville, WA and attended the Red Gate Residency in Beijing, China. Her work has been featured in publications such as Artists Statement #1 by CICA Museum in Korea and ArtMaze Mag in New York and the United Kingdom. In 2012, she was commissioned by TEDxSan Diego to create an installation for their meeting. She also received the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award from Mesa College, San Diego.
Hannan was awarded an MFA fellowship from the San Francisco Art Institute where she received her MFA in 2007. Before coming to the United States, she received a Bachelor's degree in medical technology from the School of Health Sciences, Kyushu University and worked for a hospital for seven years in her native country, Japan.
Education
- MFA, studio art, San Francisco Art Institute, 2007
- B.A., fine art, San Diego State University, 2004
- A.A., fine art, Mesa College, San Diego, 2001
- B.S., medical technology, Kyushu University, Japan, 1990