Bio
Hello! I am Hannah Batsel, a book artist, writer, and illustrator based in Chicago, IL. Originally from Marietta, GA, I received my BFA in Printmaking and Book Arts from the University of Georgia in 2011 and my MFA in the same from Columbia College Chicago in 2016. My handmade artist book work can be found in library and museum collections around the country, and my mass-market picture book, A is for Another Rabbit, can be found wherever books are sold. I live with my friends and partner in a spooky old house filled with books, taxidermy, and hundreds of houseplants.
Artist Statement
My work explores, often through fictional narrative, the real-world power structures and tensions that exist not only between different cultures and social classes, but also between humanity and the natural world. More specifically, I construct stories about people who have gained or lost power, people who have given their power willingly, and people who have had their power taken from them. Power exchanges infiltrate every conceivable realm of human activity; by isolating and – in an almost monastic sense – illuminating these exchanges, I am cataloging just a few of the innumerable threads in the undocumentably complex web of human interaction.
My work frequently concentrates on the human compulsion to collect, categorize, list, document – and ultimately conquer – both the natural world and, as an extension, the worlds of other peoples and cultures. I draw from historical texts, illustrations, and scientific thought as aesthetically enrapturing, but blatantly flawed and often horrific, records of this colonial impulse. By appropriating the illustrative styles of eras past, my work connects the naïve fairytale depiction of colonial adventures in far-off lands and medieval fascinations with power over nature with more modern (or even futuristic) narratives and social systems.
Because storytelling is so intrinsic to how people contextualize, experience, and even lay claim to the world, my work takes the form of narrative structures such as the artist book and the interactive installation. Through meticulous craftsmanship in the depiction of lush environments, opulent aristocracy, and fantastic animals, these works seduce the viewer into enjoying and appreciating imagined worlds imbued with real ugliness. My role, in the end, is that of the storyteller: to entice and engage, but also to investigate real-world power dynamics through a more inviting, fictional lens.
