Sophia Hanna - I'm doing pretty good.

With this series of self portraits I invite you into my mind, as I struggle to break out of a deeply isolating comfort zone. 

The recurring deep pink liminal space represents my inner landscape, where all versions of myself overlap and fight for my supposed emotional safety. While using the pink drench was instinctual, I believe it’s tied to the overwhelming weight of the conditioning around what women should be and do. Huge parts of me want to reach out, and they're crushed by that conditioning to keep peace and keep smiling. Additionally, by emphasizing foreshortened and dynamic poses, I create engaging compositions of vulnerable figures that literally reach out to you. I hope to create the feeling that you’re peeking in, or maybe in there with me. So in some pieces, I extend a desperate hand, wanting to break out of my pink echo chamber, but a part of me pulls back. In others, you are simply a fly on the wall witnessing my silent turmoil.

My work reflects a period of particularly intense and painful isolation that I experienced in 2023, when I impulsively moved out of town. I came to realize that although I was miserable, I was also responsible for this. Part of me longed to move forward, while another part, bruised and afraid, clung to the comfort of my familiar patterns. 

Then recently, right as I began work for this show, I was hit with a series of mental and physical diagnoses that have turned my life upside down. I created all of the work you see while struggling with new routines, new realities, and immense pain. Ironically it has been very isolating.

Still, if you ask me How are you? I give the same answer that I would have in 2023.

I’m doing pretty good.