MIYA HANNAN
Detail of Umi ni Kizamareta Kioku, (Memories within the Ocean) exhibition, Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio, Sapporo, Japan. Soot on paper; 81 x 39 inches each; 2023
Installation view of Umi ni Kizamareta Kioku, (Memories within the Ocean), Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio, Sapporo, Japan. Soot on paper, tree branches, bone ash; 10 x 15 x 15 feet; 2023
Artist Statement
I view the world as layers and linkages of history—a chain of lives and events that leads from one to the next. The landscape serves as a record of these histories, holding stories and memories etched into its form. This philosophical perspective emerged during my time working in the medical field in Japan. There, the souls of the dead live on, spirits exist within nature, and land retains its destiny—people inherit the histories of the land on which they live. I am interested in the relationship between humanity and the information trapped in nature.
The ocean has archived a thousand years of historical stories, both physically and metaphorically. "Distanced Connection" is from my project, "Crossing the Ocean," which is inspired by the story of Japanese immigrants who crossed the ocean around 1900 to have a new life. Thinking about how much hope, expectation, and fear they held when crossing the ocean, I deeply share the same feeling as an immigrant who also crossed the Pacific Ocean for a better life. This project is a reminder of such individuals and the richness of the ocean.
Installation view of Futashikana Tashika, (Distanced Connection), Tsukimisou, Kyoto, Japan
MIYA HANNAN
Bio
Miya Hannan’s installations, sculptures, and drawings try to preserve stories that are almost forgotten or would otherwise be lost, using the archival quality of landscape and place. She has actively shown her work in many solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. The recent exhibitions include “Deep Echos,” Corr Gallery, University of Montana Western, Dillon (2024), and “Memories in the Ocean,” Kyoto and Hokkaido, Japan (2023). She is a recipient of the 2023 Nevada Council Artist Fellowship. Her artist’s book, “Three Poems Disrupting a Language,” a collaboration project with poet Bill Kelly and Brighton Press in San Diego in 2017-2019, is now in the collections of 30 institutions including the Getty Research Institute, Harvard University, Library of Congress, and Stanford University. She was awarded many artist residencies, including the Tokyo Arts and Space, Japan (2024), the Jentel Artist Residency, WY (2022), the Willapa Bay AiR Residency, WA (2017), and the Red Gate Residency in Beijing, China (2017). 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 M.F.A. Fellowship from San Francisco Art Institute where she received her M.F.A. 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. She is an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and serves as the Director of the MFA Program and the Head of the Drawing Area.
Soot Drawing. Uncertainty 1 Soot on paper, 2020.
Current work - Soot drawings and sculptures
Materials and processes that echo the temporal and fragile nature of physical beings drive my imagination. Burning, which appears in many Japanese rituals including cremation, changes physical forms to the transient. The Law of Conservation of Mass states that mass may change forms but can neither be created nor destroyed. Similarly, the dead stay with the living in the form of memory, story, knowledge, and genetic code. Every dead person exists around us in some way, creating layers of rich histories that enhance our lives. My work depicts my view of death as another form of being alive.
available work below
contact Melhop Gallery º7077 for prices and further information
hello@melhopgallery.com
Detail of soot drawing.
Uncertainty 1 Soot on paper, 2020. 41” x 29” (34 3/4” x 47”) framed
Installation view of latest work - Uncertain Certainty series. Left to right: Certainty 2 used chair, 2021. 34” x 19” x 19”Uncertainty 2, soot on paper, 2021. 41” x 30” (35 3/4” x 47”). Certainty 3, used chair 38” x 19” x 23” 2021. Uncertainty 3, soot on paper, 41” x 29” (34 3/4” x 47”) 2021. Certainty 5, used chair, 27” x 17” x 18” 2021. Uncertainty 5, soot on paper, 41” x 29” (34 3/4” x 47”) 2021
Installation view of Certainty 1, used chair, 2020. 41” x 28” x 25” and Uncertainty 1 , Soot on paper, 2020 , 41” x 29” framed (image size 34.75” x 47”)
UNCERTAIN CERTAINTY Exhibition visit, at the Opium den in the Old Chinese Herb Shop, Truckee, California.
Forms series
available work below
contact Melhop Gallery º7077 for prices and further information
hello@melhopgallery.com
Forms 1
Forms 2
Forms 3
Forms 4
Beneath the Feet series
Watercolor on paper, phonebooks, soot
Accident series
available work below
contact Melhop Gallery º7077 for prices and further information
hello@melhopgallery.com
ACCIDENT 1
ACCIDENT 4
ACCIDENT 5
ACCIDENT 6
ACCIDENT 3
ACCIDENT 7
Miya Hannan installing her exhibition at Oats Park Art Center
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (*tandem solo)
2024 Deep Echos, Corr Gallery, University of Montana Western, Dillon, MT
2023 Futashikana Tashika, Tsukimiso, Kyoto, Japan
2023 Umi ni Kizamareta Kioku, Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio, Sapporo, Japan
2022 Uncertain Certainty, Opium Den, The Old Chinese Herb Shop, HSH Interiors, Truckee, CA
2021 Aerial, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
2020 *Rooted in Wonder, Marin Art & Garden Center, Ross, CA
2020 Buried Relations, Fine Art Gallery, College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
2019 Layered Upon Layers, Main Gallery, Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, NV
2019 Layered Stories, Anderson Gallery, the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA
2019 Underfoot, Wiegand Gallery, Oats Park Art Center, Fallon, NV
2018 Beneath My Feet, University Art Gallery, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL
2018 Linkages, ArtSpace, Richmond, VA
2019 *Mirage, Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY
2017 Stories of Urns, 3 Square Art, Fort Collins, CO
2013 Layers and Missing Links, R.B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, CA
2010 Transitory Elements, Japanese Garden Exhibition Hall, San Diego, CA
2010 Connectivity, Hyde Gallery, Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA
2009 *Untitled, LA Artcore, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Circularity, R.B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, CA
2007 Momentum, Gallery 2, Ventura College, Ventura, CA
2007 Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
2004 Apples and the Apple, Flor y Canto Gallery, San Diego, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024-2025 Fellowship Traveling Exhibition, by Nevada Art Council, NV
2023 Art on Paper Fair NY 2023, presented by CODEX Foundation, NYC, NY
2022 National Changwon University International Exchange Arts Festival, Chohyunwood Art Hall, Changwon National University Museum,
Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
We Are Reversal, MUSA PAVILION at 59th Biennale di Venezia 2022, Venice, Italy
Toward a Totality of Effect, Gallery 709, Montana, MT
Toward a Totality of Effect, Foreground Gallery, Phoenix Arts Alliance, Butte, MT
Toward a Totality of Effect, Foreground Gallery, Phoenix Arts Alliance, Butte, MT
Woman’s Essence Show 2022, Paris, France
Thirty-six Views of Japanese Art, The Lilley Museum of Art, Reno, NV
2021 Skull, Sheppard Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
Changwon Notional University International Exchange Exhibition, Chohyunwood Art Hall, Changwon National University Museum,
Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea
Pulse, HSH Interiors, Truckee, CA
Woman’s Essence Show 2021 in collaboration with UNESCO, Musa International, Rome, Italy
Connections, Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Reno, NV
2019 Woman’s Essence Show 2019, concomitant event with Official Pavilion of Bangladesh 58th
Venice Biennale, Palazzo Zenobio, Venice, Italy
2017 Making a Mark, Nevada Arts Council Traveling Exhibition, NV (catalog)
Open Studio, Red Gate Residency, Beijing, China
My Body Your Body, Sierra Arts Foundations, Reno, NV
2016 *Caverna: Infinite Universe, HB Punto Experimental, San Diego, CA (3 person show)
2011 Cut to Form, Fine Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA
Into the Woods, Sacred Heart Hall, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA
2010 Silence, Exile, and Cunning, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
Unraveling Tradition: Contemporary Artists Working with Fiber Media, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM
2009 LA 2009, Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Paper Cuts 3, Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo, CA
2006 Artists Go Lightly, Temporary Autonomous Museum(s), San Francisco, CA
2005 *Life Luggage, Everett Gee Jackson Gallery, San Diego, CA (3-person show)
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Amherst College, Amherst, MA (2019)
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT (2017)
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH (2017)
Columbia University, New York, NY (2017)
Duke University, Durham, NC (2019)
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA (2017)
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2017)
Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN (2017)
Library of Congress, Washington, DC (2019)
R.B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, CA (2008)
Revada Foundation of the Logan Family, Alexandria, VA (2023)
San Diego State University, San Diego, CA (2004, 2018)
Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA (2018)
Stanford University, Stanford, CA (2017)
Smith College, Northampton, MA (2018)
University of California, Berkeley, CA (2020)
University of California, Riverside, CA (2019)
University of California, San Diego, CA (2017)
University of Delaware, Newark, DE (2018)
University of Denver, Denver, CO (2017)
University of Georgia, GA (2023)
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (2017)
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (2017)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2017)
University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (2020)
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (2018)
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (2020)
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT (2019)
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI (2017)
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (2017)
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (2017)