Hanna’s Story

Unfenced. Untamed. Free.

I didn't always choose myself.

Like most people, I grew up surrounded by expectations of what I should do and who I should be. So, for a while, I followed them.

But no matter where life took me, I kept finding my way back to creativity.

As a kid, I loved dancing, drawing and disappearing into my own imagination. Creating was never something I had to think about—it was simply who I was.

I explored different paths, from hairdressing to nursing, searching for something that felt right. But there was always a quiet pull back to art.

I still remember an assignment in high school where I had to enlarge an underwater scene with a platypus. It probably doesn't sound life-changing, but something clicked. I became completely immersed in the process. That feeling stayed with me long after the assignment was finished. I just ignored it for a while.

Coming back to art wasn't some dramatic turning point. It was a decision to stop pushing down what I already knew and start trusting myself.

Creating became the place where I stopped worrying about doing things the "right" way and started expressing myself honestly. It wasn't about perfection anymore. It was about freedom.

My work is layered and expressive, combining representational imagery with texture, colour and the freedom to explore. Every piece begins with a foundation, but it's the marks, movement and final layers that give each painting its own personality.

Studying with Milan Art Institute gave me structure and helped refine my technical skills, but the biggest lesson wasn't about painting. It was learning to trust my own voice and create in a way that felt true to me.

I don't create because I have all the answers.

I create because it's how I quiet the "cant's," the "should's," and the self-critical voice that tells me to play small. Every painting is another reminder to choose myself, trust myself and create freely.

That's what Unfenced. Untamed. Free. means to me.

I don't create to fit in.

I create to be free.

And if my work reminds someone else they don't need permission to be themselves either, then every painting has done exactly what it was meant to do.