Artist Feature: Hannah Muehi
Hannah Muehi is a Berlin based social media content creator and artist. Her work, both digital and analogue, is geared towards helping women live their best lives by being true to themselves. Addressing issues from mental health to menstruation, she aims to create a safe space where women can be vulnerable and open with her.
Illustrations by Hannah Muehi
Q: Can you share something you've learned from creating this body of work that would resonate with our community?
H: Creating art makes me look at life with a new perspective. I look at people in a different way and especially women (who are a big part of my inspiration process). It is not about seeing good and bad parts about a body, it is about seeing curves and straight lines. It is about appreciating bumps and lumps, different textures and shapes and realizing that we truly are all little artworks of our own.
Q: Tell us about your work process! Do you plan your images ahead or are you more improvisational?
H: It always depends. I do a lot of different work. Collages, photography but also paintings. Most of the time I go into a painting session with some source of inspiration. A song I listened to, a talk I had with a friend, a new person I met or a color combination I saw somewhere…and then I go from there. Sometimes I also get inspired to get creative by something that truly pisses me off. My photography professor in university always used to tell me that good work always comes from deep emotion. So if one is sad, angry or frustrated about something, it is actually the best foundation for a great piece of art.
Illustrations by Hannah Muehi
Q: What types of expectations for artists are most challenging to you today?
H: There are so many, I do not even know where to begin. On one hand victim blaming must be quite high up on my list. This topic is the one that truly brought me to be an active feminist. I did not even know I was victim blamed countless times in my life before I knew the meaning of it. This behavior is so accepted and normalized that young girls and women (there is obviously also boys and people who identify differently experiencing it) tend to believe it themselves and that is horrific. My second most frustrating expectation or rather concept that is still pretty common these days is „slut shaming“. Slut-shaming is when people degrade, embarrass, insult or attack a woman because they think she is promiscuous, behaves too sexually or dresses too sexually. This means that you don’t necessarily have to be sexually active to be labelled a ‘slut’. Women are being shamed as sluts for wearing clothes that are „too sexy“ or for being sexually free and active. This is so wrong. Men and boys are generally praised for being sexually active or sleeping with many women. We’ve come a long way in the fight for women’s rights, but there are still many instances where women are still expected to behave a certain way. This can then also lead to victim blaming to which I referred earlier.
Q: What is your advice to young and aspiring women photographers?
H: Never doubt yourself and start doing what you believe in. You are unique and wonderful and so is your creative work. The creative world, like in most professions is still dominated by male artists. We need more brave women to speak up and share their creative ideas with the world.
Q: What is your advice to young and aspiring photographers and environmental activists?
H: Believe in yourself and trust that your work is important!
“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom. It’s about liberation. It’s about equality.”
Q: Do you have any upcoming events, exhibitions, or news you'd like to share?
H: I am working on a little art project, but I am not ready to give you more information yet. Something is coming for sure though, so I would love you to join me on my journey.
Illustrations by Hannah Muehi
Follow @hannah.muehi view more at hannah.mueller-hillebrand.de
