Deep Echoes
Solo Exhibition by Miya Hannan
May - July 2025
Motomoto Gallery, Arao, Kyushu, Japan
Reception: 31 May 1 pm - 7 pm
In her recent series Deep Echoes, Miya presents soot drawings of solitary chairs—symbols of presence marked by absence. These quiet portraits suggest the lingering traces of those no longer there. Her choice of soot as a medium is both intentional and deeply resonant: the residue of fire, soot embodies transformation, loss, and memory. Drawing with breath and smoke, she captures the intangible and the ephemeral, using a material born of destruction to create delicate, haunting images. The result is a body of work that invites reflection on impermanence and the unseen impressions we leave behind.
Installation view of Deep Echoes in Sapporo 2024. Each drawing 81” x 29”, Soot on paper, 2023. Miya Hannan
MIYA HANNAN
ARTIST STATEMENT 2025
I view the world as layers and linkages of history—a chain of lives and events that leads from one to the next. The landscape serves as a record of these histories, holding stories and memories etched into its form. This philosophical perspective emerged during my time working in the medical field in Japan. There, the souls of the dead live on, spirits exist within nature, and land retains its destiny—people inherit the histories of the land on which they live. I am interested in the relationship between humanity and the information trapped in nature.
The ocean has archived a thousand years of historical stories, both physically and metaphorically. "Deep Echoes" is from my project, "Crossing the Ocean," which is inspired by the story of Japanese immigrants who crossed the ocean around 1900 to have a new life. Thinking about how much hope, expectation, and fear they held when crossing the ocean, I deeply share the same feeling as an immigrant who also crossed the Pacific Ocean for a better life. This project is a reminder of such individuals and the richness of the ocean.