Hannah Ireland

Hannah Ireland (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, b. 1995) is a contemporary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

Her practice is rooted in psychological observation, relational experience, and the subtle intricacies of everyday life. Working primarily through painting and drawing, Ireland creates expressionistic portraits and abstracted forms that engage with whakapapa, cultural memory, and the emotional landscapes of lived experience. These elements often emerge as intuitive impressions reflecting the harmonies and frictions of being in relation: to people, place, time, and history. In recent years this has included a more direct engagement with whakapapa, with symbols and references drawn from her Māori heritage recurring through her paintings as a way of linking past, present, and future.

At the heart of her work is a negotiation between visibility and concealment, control and instinct. Figures develop through layering, reworking, and disruption, resulting in images that feel both intentional and provisional.