Hannah Miller Chicago, Illinois Award of Excellence $2,00 Age 24

"Art holds the ability to open people. It provides a medium through which to look at ourselves and to look at our world without feeling hreatened, and without passing judgement. Art can help us understand."

Hannah Miller was drawn to creativity at an early age, pursuing music, writing and the visual arts. She is presently pursuing photography, but continues to practice the other artforms to inform her work. Miller, who has muscular dystrophy and scoliosis, references disability throughout her work. "My artwork is autobiographical in the sense that it stems from my own consciousness and derives narrative logic from my experiences." The piece Stilled Life comes from a series that elicits disability and its effects on how she experiences the world. Miller draws subject matter from her dreams that often combine her life's experiences with natural and sybollic objects. "I began trying to photograph these dreams. In allowing myself to contemplate and understand the meaning of the dreams, I was giving myself an opportunity to accept and understand how my disability affects my experience of life." Described as often frightening, the process and resulting photographs are deeply powerful and provocative in their execution.

Influential Art Teachers/Professors:
Sarah Smelser, Jin Lee, Nancy Fewkes, LJ Douglas, Shona MacDonald
Illinois State University, Illinois