Artist’s bio

Growing up in the Midwest in a family of sisters, Hannah Franco witnessedthe way that clothing was handed down, mended, and resewn, until all that was left were the scraps that were used by her grandmother to make quilts. This act of connection was not only creative but a living narrative holding the stories of her family stitched together into a functional object. Her narrative geometric oil paintings explore areas of craft and other undervalued “women’s work” in American culture, creating a visual world in which the narrative is recentered on the female experience and perspective. Her dyslexia informs her exploration of the intelligence of alternative and underappreciated pathways and the quiet work of translating one's inner language.

She earned a BFA from Pratt Institute in New York City and lives and works in Oakland, California

Represented by Slate Contemporary Gallery

CURRENT SHOW

TRACES is an exploration of where we place our attention and how that attention is valued. Descended from the visual narrative of women's craft and quilting my visual language exposes the ways societal pressures change our forms and shape our lives over generations.The shapes are constructed and combined, layer-by-layer, in an attempt to fit into a structure, and then broken down again to expose what is essential. This process mirrors the navigation of my dyslexic experience —constantly assembling meaning while finding alternative pathways when conventional systems fail to accommodate divergent ways of processing the world. The layers reveal the labor of adaptation, the quiet work of translating one's inner language into forms that society might recognize and value.Every trace leaves a lasting mark on the work, regardless of its subtlety, just as every experience leaves a mark on our lives. The accumulated weight of being measured against standards that weren't designed for different minds or genders creates its own visual vocabulary. Past struggles with systems that demand conformity become present textures—some rough, some worn smooth by repetition, all bearing witness to the persistence required to make space for oneself.Through the making and unmaking of these shapes I investigate which of the traces bind the forms, and which liberate them. The paintings ask: What happens when we stop trying to fit into prescribed structures and instead honor the intelligence of our own processes? In the breaking down and rebuilding, in the patient reworking of elements that refuse to behave as expected, lies both the evidence of our labor and the assertion of our inherent value.