Hannah Epstein (AKA Hanski) is a Canadian pulp artist. Working with a wide array of media, she collects and reforms populist narratives related to the banal and personal moving through the techno-empire of the 21st century.
Raised in Nova Scotia, Hanski was captivated by the vibrant images on television and Internet 1.0 contrasted with the pagan belief systems of her Latvian matriarchal family. These broadcast fantasies and digital worlds contrasted dramatically with the reality of her grey surroundings and complex family history, resulting in an obsession with popular entertainment as a means of remedy and escape.
In her work, Hanski examines the cultural negotiation between traditional, community-driven storytelling and the mass commodification of fringe cultural practices. She draws on traditional textiles as well as a variety of digital technologies, from AI to video games, to create pieces that engage with archetypal figures of the collective unconscious. Her pioneering concepts have been instrumental in the creation of digital applications such as Bitmoji and her work has gained her a reputation in the experimental video game world.
Hanski’s work has been exhibited in prestigious institutions such as The Hammer Museum, Arsenal Contemporary and The Art Gallery of Ontario and is in the collections of notable figures such as Jorge Perez, Beth Rudin DeWoody and Demi Lovato.