Hannah Ireland
Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi
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.
Works
Cartwheels Over Window Seals, 2026
My Reflections Grew Legs, 2026
Under My Breath, Over the Moon, 2026
Almost Moving, Almost Still, 2026
Tightly Squeezed (In), 2026
Face to Face : We All Fall Down, 2025
Footsteps on the Concrete, Beneath Me., 2025
A Table Set for Two, 2025
Beyond, Me, 2025
A Morning Mixed by Sun, 2025
Magic Markers, 2024
The Sun as It’s Supposed To Be, 2024
Hung a Cigarette Between Your Purple Lips : Vanishing Humour, 2023
Offer My Chin, Blossoms Akin, 2023
Heated : Hall : Ways, 2023
(You) My Willing Accomplice, 2023
No Face, No Case, 2023
At the Risk of Being Crude, 2022
Supposedly I’m unhappy now, 2021
Cry Me a River, 2020
The Concrete is Melting, 2020
If I Am the Sky, You Are the Sea, 2026
A Kite for Every Thought, 2026
The Second Hand is Turning, 2026
The Horizon Bent in Half, 2026
Circling Circles, 2026
Every Clock Is a Different Time, 2025
A Soft Collapse, 2025
Changed Beneath the Evening Light, 2025
Loose Ends, Tight Corners, 2025
Float Here for a While, 2024
Somewhere New, Somewhere Old : Can You Hear Me Calling, 2024
Back To Sea, 2024
Chocolate Covered Hills, 2023
Concrete Coloured Skies, 2023
Spinal Tap, 2023
Clock Work, 2023
I've Been Waiting For You, 2022
Platter Plate (print), 2021
Terrible timing, 2021
Cheeky Kiwifruit, 2020
Install Images
Podcast
The Good Oil Podcast with Hannah Ireland
Videos
Hannah Ireland, Wet stairs, Exhibition video
Hannah Ireland, It feels so good to be alive, exhibition video
Essays, Press and Interviews
Meet the artist who created a new portrait every day for a year, The Spinoff
Hannah Ireland: In the studio — An interview with Homestyle Magazine
Meet Hannah Ireland
Family Portraits
Tossing and Turning, Hannah Ireland
Hannah Ireland, Wet Stairs, A response
Portraits in Hamilton
Hannah Ireland, Stuck In The Mud: Making Faces, Exhibition Essay
Cheap wine
Hannah Ireland