ABOUT | Claire Violet Hanley

Bio

Claire Violet Hanley is an eclectic, cross-disciplinary and multiform artist. Her practice sits at the intersection of lived experience and a vast, insatiable curiosity that transcends disciplinary boundaries and moves fluidly across the arts, sciences and humanities. Following early promise in film, her trajectory was interrupted by a hiatus spent navigating severe, rare chronic illness and AuDHD, complexities that remained undiagnosed and misdiagnosed for most of her life. With the clarity of correct diagnoses, her practice has re-emerged as a responsive exploration of painting, sculpture and analogue and digital drawing, which seeks to translate personal vulnerability into a universal dialogue on the human condition of surviving pain and tragedy, but which celebrates the parts of the human spirit which survive intact.

Artist Statement

Claire Violet Hanley explores the relationship between intellect and emotion through painting, drawing, and small sculpture. She takes a polymathic approach, moving seamlessly between academic research and creative expression. Her practice celebrates a Renaissance way of thinking in which art and science were inseparable. Anchored both in lived experience and critical analysis, her work is driven by an expansive, boundless curiosity, ranging from medical ethics, social anthropology, philosophy, history and global politics to literature, art, and ecological issues.

A central focus of her current enquiry is the “Diagnostic Odyssey”, examining the prolonged and delegitimising journey of patients navigating rare or complex conditions within systems that struggle to recognise them.

Her eclectic, cross-disciplinary and multiform approach manifests through two distinct but interconnected strands.

Contemporary Impressionism

This painting practice functions as a vital counterpoint to disability, trauma, and analysis. Painting becomes a radical act of stillness, a way to slow down and calm mind and body through the observation of atmosphere.

Working in the tradition of Impressionist painting, she employs colour theory and prioritises the immediacy of light and sensory experience. She explores how specific combinations of light and colour can directly influence the emotional response of both viewer and painter. The skills gained through this practice allow her to document her conceptual sculptures (discussed later), fusing the conceptual with the emotional and sensory experience of two-dimensional painting.

Analogue and digital drawing.

This practice ranges from quirky, emotive pen and ink works with an illustrative sensibility to detailed graphic studies in a variety of analogue and digital media, grounded in close observation. These drawings offer a space for neurodivergent joy, freedom and spirit, moving intuitively between the conceptual and the observational.

Future areas of development:

Conceptual Sculpture and Painting

Areas of interest include forms that embody the structural realities of the human condition, particularly vulnerability, and the strength required to survive at the margins of society. Claire is developing ideas to build complex sculptures and subsequently paint them on canvas using techniques drawn from contemporary Impressionism, uniting built form (the intellect) with painted surface (the intuition) to document an architecture of survival.

Ultimately, Claire aims for her work to look beyond her own life and experiences. She explores the broader human condition under pressure, acknowledging the toll of adversity, and exploring the attributes that allow people to survive while celebrating the endurance of the human spirit. By translating personal struggle into visual language, she reflects on the complex reality of survival in a fractured world.

Quick-Read Artist Practice Summary

About
Claire Violet Hanley is a cross-disciplinary and multiform artist. Her path includes early promise in film, a prolonged hiatus navigating rare chronic illness and AuDHD (all undiagnosed for most of her life), and re-emergence through painting and sculpture. Her work transforms personal vulnerability into universal reflections on survival, endurance, and the human spirit.

Practice foundation
• Cross-disciplinary enquiry: spans arts, sciences, humanities with boundless curiosity
• Multiiform methods: uses varied techniques across painting, drawing, sculpture.

Renaissance revival
• Contemporary celebration of art-science unity
• Blends academic research with creative expression

Intellect vs intuition
• Core tension between analytical depth (intellect) and intuitive feeling (intuition)
• Unites analysis with emotional immediacy.

Three core strands
• Contemporary Impressionism: Painting as deliberate slowdown and healing space; uses Impressionist techniques to capture light/colour’s emotional power and document sculptures
• Analogue and digital drawing: Playful sketches alongside precise studies; balances free expression and neurodivergent joy with careful observation
• Conceptual sculpture + painting (works in progress): 3D forms capture human fragility and endurance; painted surfaces join intellect (structure) with intuition (emotion).

Universal focus
• Personal struggle becomes shared reflection on surviving pain, unfairness, adversity
• Celebrates parts of the human spirit that survive intact.

I'm Claire Violet Hanley, a British artist and illustrator working across illustration, painting, film, and digital media. With a highly multidisciplinary background which spans anthropology, global politics and the natural world, I reflect on the nature of being human, the richness of our differences, and the experience of feeling misunderstood, striving to capture the joy that can be discovered within nature and life's complexities. In my work, I explore a range of interconnected themes that reflect both personal and societal narratives. I focus on the untapped potential of individuals with diverse neurological profiles navigating a neurotypical world, while also addressing global security, environmental concerns and the importance of protecting biodiversity. I celebrate playful joy, particularly the unique joys found in neurodivergent experiences.. Additionally, I investigate the power imbalances within the medical establishment, the impact of misdiagnosis, and the realities of living with chronic health conditions. My work seeks to answer what it means to be human, to be different, and to be misunderstood, while finding some joy amidst life's complexities.