HANNAH EMERT
(SHE / HER / HERS)
BFA FINE ARTS: 2D & 3D
SUSAN SOMMER ’72 AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN 2D FINE ART
Displaying my relationship with my creator shows a side of God not generally shown by Christians who use God’s name as an excuse to continue shameful and cruel behavior. This leads to people thinking that this twisted representation, imagined only to control the masses, is God. I use my art to visually translate bible verses, so that they may exist in the gallery space. I do not add or take away from them, I simply document the imagery and emotions that come to me while studying and reading the bible verse. This is to show that the Christian faith is just another way to look at human existence. The audience or wearer's interaction with the art is an important element. Forms of human interaction, like physical contact, create attachments which can lead to the intimacy that is found in all meaningful relationships. In order to emanate this feeling, I work with fabric—it can provide psychological safety and comfort. The materials, textures, images, and colors I employ in my work collectively carry a great deal of background with them. These socio-cultural meanings, histories, and psychological effects are essential for bringing in the emotions and feelings needed to edify the observer’s view of the intimate relationship God wishes to have with his people.
The entire piece is made up of ten, 12x12in, canvases finished with reclaimed fabric.
Hannah Emert's art is heavily faith-based, but it is not made specifically for those within the faith. While attending Moore College of Art & Design, Emert gained background knowledge in social, cultural, and environmental histories which exposed her to the side of humanity oppressed in the name of the God she worshiped. Events such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, or the justification for slavery were monstrous and performed by people who claimed to be Christians. Emert claims these atrocities, and others like them, were not God's will; they were man's will. However, because they were said to be done in the name of God, it can be difficult to separate the two for an outsider looking in. Drawing from emotional, physiological, socio-cultural, and spiritual resources to choose her materials, Emert visually translates bible verses so they may serve as true representations of God, within the gallery space. Her art serves as an inside look into what she deals with and feels within her walk with the Lord.