HANNA M KEBBEDE

ARTIST BIO

Hanna M Kebbede's early career was with the UN, championing equality for women and economic equity in developing nations. It gave her the opportunity to travel and work in different countries with many UN agencies. Hanna took her art supplies everywhere because it was her refuge. She could find peace and feel connected to her authentic self in making art. After quitting her job at the UN to become a full-time artist, she suffered from serious impostor syndrome and was fearful of not making money to cover her economic needs. Besides, she had a mother and sister to support. So, she pivoted to become an entrepreneur and offered her services as a content developer, trainer, workshop presenter, conference moderator and project manager. While she lived in NYC, Hanna studied for three years at the Art Students' League and one semester at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After she moved to Washington, DC, in 2004, she continued her studies in illustration art and graphic design at NOVA.

Hanna is now in her seventies, and having conquered her impostor syndrome, she's stepped into her authentic career as an artist. She has been making art since early childhood. Now, she's ready to lean into who she's always been and share her gift. Hanna aims to scale her works for public spaces as installations, sculptures and paintings.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I think art is a powerful cultural instrument, a refuge for the soul, and a source of hope and peace for humanity. As a creative, my focus is not so much on what I will create but on how deeply I can surrender to the Divine Spirit and discover. My work consists of line drawings, acrylic paintings and mixed-media collages. Although I struggle with structure in my life, my lines are disciplined because my brain waves are organized. My art is a quiet search, giving form to the formless within me. I suspend thought while I draw and intuitively paint the patterns that emerge. There is always a story or characters with an attitude. These are expressions of what I process in my subconscious as I process the emotions I grapple with at the time. My drawings, paintings and collages concretize what I could not express in words. They speak back to me and give me the means both to understand the world I live in, and to make peace with my own inadequacies in solving problems in a bigger context.