Lacunae

A collection of works in paper exhibited in Cut and Fold at Make Hauser & Wirth in Somerest, April - June 2023

A note from the curator:

‘Cut and Fold’ features a collection of works that explore the interplay between design and form, redefining surface qualities through the malleability and performative possibilities of materials. The works reveal a fluency of line, a sense of movement and a haptic sensibility. Subtle acts of sensing or bold intervention challenge the perception of works in clay, wood, metal, leather, paper and textile.

For Cut and Fold, Hannah presented a series of new works woven primarily in paper.

Hannah is interested in the materiality of paper and its symbolic potential. Paper is often found in the liminal spaces between light and shadow, for example as lanterns, in puppet theatres and in Japanese paper walls, and it was used in windows before glass was available. It is the material which gives texture and form to intangible ideas. It carries sketches, text, notation and drawings. It is a ubiquitous and democratic material for making and conveying meanings.  Historically, paper was used sparingly and reused as it was valuable. Its production is it bound up with the cotton and linen industries, as the lint from spinning and weaving was a valuable source of fibres for paper-making.  It is also a fragile material: it travels through time as a vehicle for stories and images and sometimes only fragments survive.  I have become interested in the idea of Lacunae - the missing pieces when manuscripts, letters or drawings get lost, damaged or decayed.  The word refers to the gaps and unfilled spaces, between one thing and the next: the aching in-betweens.  Lacuna is also the name for the cavities within bone, carefully arranged in patterns to give lightness and strength to the structure of the skeleton.