My practice is lens-based, working across photography and moving image to explore memory, temporality and lived experience. Rooted in analogue processes, I am particularly interested in traditional and experimental darkroom techniques, including cyanotypes and the use of natural and sustainable materials. These processes create a tactile relationship between image, time and environment, embedding traces of memory and transformation within the work itself.
Alongside this, my practice has developed through sustained work in creative health contexts, where I facilitate participatory workshops with women and community groups. Here, photography becomes a shared, reflective process, a way of exploring personal histories, embodiment and a sense of belonging. I am interested in how images can hold lived experience with care and how collaborative methods can shift authorship and create space for multiple voices.
More recently, my work has focused on women’s health and experiences of chronic pain, exploring how lens-based practice can be used ethically and collaboratively to engage with themes of visibility, agency and representation. Through both personal and participatory work, I am interested in how images can articulate what is often unseen or difficult to express, creating a visual language that is quiet, embodied and attentive.
Since completing my MA in Photography in 2020, I have worked as an artist facilitator across the UK, delivering workshops and projects with organisations including Brighton Women’s Centre, Survivors’ Network, Terrence Higgins Trust and ONCA Gallery. I divide my time between personal projects, commissions and community-based work, with a focus on photography as a relational, care-led practice that supports connection, reflection and shared experience.
EXHIBITIONS
Solo/Group Shows.
2026 - INFLUENCE: Seafront Gallery Worthing.
2024 - HOME/LAND: Colonnade House Worthing - Part of the Refugee Week
2023 - Fleetwood, From Nothing to Now: Historic England/Photoworks - Lancashire
2022 - The Waiting Room - SHUTTERHUB, Yearbook
2021 - Spoilt by Carelessness - It’s Not Your Birthday But. Competition Winners - Digital Exhibition
2020 - Like an Iris, IRIS Collective, PhotoFringe 2020. Brighton.
2020 - Spoilt by Carelessness - Brighton University MA Photography Digital Exhibition.
2018 - Intermission - Brighton Biennale/Photofringe, Brighton.
2018 - Kings House - The Museum of Ordinary People - Brighton.
2018 - Expectations and Lessons in Forgiveness, Artist Open Houses, Brighton.
2017 - Expectations and Lessons in Forgiveness, The Naked Eye Gallery, Brighton.
2015 - Her, She, Anyone But Me, Candid Arts Trust, London.
2012 - Her, She, Anyone But Me, Truman Brewery, London.
2011 - Accidents and Revelations, The Stills Gallery, Edinburgh.
2011 - Graduate Exhibition, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh.
COMMUNITY EXHIBITIONS
Curator/Artist Facilator.
2021 - Picture Littlehampton, Littlehampton Museum.
2018 - Student Artist Open House at DV8 Sussex, Brighton.
2016 - NOvember, Beyond the Streets Charity, Southampton.
2015 - The Selfie Project, The Brighton Women’s - Brighton.
2015 - NOvember, Beyond the Streets Charity. Southampton.
2015 - Supper Club at The Basement, Brighton.
2014 - Supper Club at The Basement, Brighton.
2013 - A Hundred Days, A Hundred Nights, Emmaus Charity, Brighton.
2012 - My Garden Project, The Brighthelm Community Partnership, Brighton.
AWARDS/GRANTS
2021 - Selected as one of the top three artist as part of The 3am Project with It’s Not Your Birthday But.
2018 - Photographic Print Artist of the Year Nominee, Artist Open Houses, Gemini Prints.
2011 - Shortlisted for the Anno books Art and Design Competition.
2011 - Recipient of the Student Grant Initiative - Edinburgh Napier University.
PROJECT WEBSITES AND INTERVIEWS.
2020: MAP6 Collective Guest Artist Feature - The Quiet Place - https://www.map6.co.uk/news-and-features/2020/8/16/featured-hannah-o-hara
2020: PhotoFringe 2020 - Like an Iris, IRIS Photography Collective. https://2020.photofringe.org/exhibitions/like-an-iris
2019: Brighton University MA Photography Digital Graduate Exhibition - https://artandmediapostgraduateshow.brighton.ac.uk/hannah-ohara-photography-ma/
2018: The Naked Eye Gallery - Interview ‘Expectations and Lessons in Forgiveness. https://www.nakedeyegallery.com/blog/2017/9/29/meet-the-photographer-hannah-ohara
2018: The Museum of Ordinary People - Brighton Fringe. https://www.museumofordinarypeople.com/museum