bio

Hannah Harkes (b. 1989) is a Scottish artist living and working in Estonia, where she splits her time between Tallinn and Valgemetsa. In addition to her solo projects, Harkes often works collaboratively with other artists, performers, and musicians. Harkes co-founded VMPR (Valgemetsa project space) in South-East Estonia in 2022, and she continues to co-run the space. She also works in the design field as a letterpress printer and illustrator at Labora in Tallinn.

artist statement

I am interested in fluidity and flexibility, as found in the natural world and in the self. I set figures in landscapes to unpack experiences of gender, ageing, fears and the social body. I typically portray real situations and characters, often embellished through fantasy and daydreaming. Though I come from a printmaking background, I will work with any form and technique that suits the idea. Favourite tools include printmaking presses, acrylic paint, spaces and events, audience participation, games, handicraft, the saxophone and the bass guitar.

curriculum vitae

EMAIL: hannahharkes@gmail.com

SCHOOL:
MA Death, Religion & Culture at University of Winchester, England (2016-2019)
BA Hons Fine Art Printmaking at Gray’s School of Art, Scotland (2007-2011)
Performance Costume & Graphic Design at Fachhochschule, Hannover, Germany (2010, Erasmus)

STUDIO: VMPR, Valgemetsa, Estonia (2020-)
WORKSHOP: Labora, Tallinn, Estonia (2014-)
BORN: Aberdeen, Scotland, 1989
Co-founder of Valgemetsa Projektiruum, Valgemetsa, Estonia (2022-)

UPCOMING:
March – April 2025 Solo exhibition at the Thomas Storey Gallery, The Storey, Lancaster, England

SOLO and DUO EXHIBITIONS:
2024 Solo exhibition “Rock Hard” at GÜ gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
*
2020 As long as we make it – Display at Gaada, Burra Isle, Shetland, Scotland
2019 adhesion – release party (with adhesion collective) – Working Man Gallery, Salford, England
2018 Snakes in the Long Grass – Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2017 The Ground Beneath the Tree Moved Like a Congregation (with Mari Prekup) – Draakoni Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2016 Bad Henry – Kulturmagasinet, Bergkvara, Sweden
2015 YouRomantix – Y-Gallery, Tartu, Estonia
2014 Sweat – Amandus Adamson’s House Museum, Paldiski, Estonia
2014 Lollipop Elixir – Tank Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2014 Ungravity Kiosk (with Tessa Androutopoulos) – Ptarmigan, Tallinn, Estonia
2013 Oooesty Ya Oooesty – Printmaking In festival, Endla Theatre Cafe, Pärnu, Estonia
2013 Common Fictions in Realtime (with Sari T.M. Kivinen) – Kontaining13:traces, Helsinki, Finland
2013 Ooodelleeen Ya Ooodelleeen – Cafe Bar No.9, Helsinki, Finland
2012 Vrouw Maria – Kontaining, Helsinki, Finland
2011/12 A Series Of Drawings Relating To The Restoration Process – Tiib, Tallinn, Estonia

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected):
2023 Beyond Everything – Haihatus Art Centre & Residency summer show, curated by Oksasenkatu 11 collective, Haihatus, Joutsa, Finland
2022 52 – Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2021 Drawn Nordic. From Reindorff and Ulas to Today – The Evald Okas Museum, Haapsalu, Estonia
2021 The 6th Tallinn Drawing Triennial – ARS Project Room, Tallinn, Estonia 2021 Spring Exhibition 2021 – Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2020 – 2021 Paus – Võru County Museum, Estonia
2020 Performatiivne Pärnumaa – Pärnu City Gallery, Pärnu, Estonia
2020 YouTube on saatanast! – Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2020 Spring Exhibition 2020 – Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2019 As Above, So Below – The Modern Art Museum of Yerevan, Armenia
2019 Spring Exhibition 2019 – Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia
2019 Settle Doon (curated by Place + Platform) – Settlement Projects, Edinburgh, Scotland
2019 Wiiralt Prize Exhibition – The National Library of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia
2018 Eesti 100 Lätis – Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia
2018 Wild Bits Festival – MAAJAAM project space, Neeruti, South-Estonia
2017 The Fourth Silk Road International Festival – Shaanxi Provincial Museum of Fine Arts, Xi’ an, China
2017 Association of Estonian Printmakers’ exhibition: Kohtumine iseendega – Tartu Printing Museum, Tartu, Estonia
2017 Elust Maal – Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2017 EST + LT + DE => Grafik – GEDOK, Karlsruhe, Germany
2016 The Perennial Gale (with Rachel Kinbar, Kirill Tulin + Jonas Van den Bossche) – EKA galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
2016 Window Show – Tallinn, Estonia
2016 Kevadnäitus – The Estonian Artists’ Association’s 16th Annual Exhibition, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia
2015/16 Di carta /Papermade. Biennal International Papermade Artwork, Palazzo Fogazzaro Schio, Italy
2016 SEAL OLI PÕRSAS JA LAMBAL OLI TALL NING KANA OLI KÜÜRUS KUKE ALL, Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2015 The Baltic States Biennial of Graphic Arts Kaliningrad – Koenigsberg – Kaliningrad Art Gallery, Kaliningrad, Russia
2015 The 5th International Drawing Triennial in Tallinn: BLACK & WHITE – Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia (+ Jõhvi Art School Gallery, Jõhvi, Estonia)
2015 The Surprised Eye – Armenian Artists’ Union Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia
2015 Poetry of Calligraphy – Sophia Cathedral, Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia
2015 Grafiikkaa Virosta – Loviisan taidevintti, Eurajoki: Vuojoen kartanon Ullakkogalleria, Tampere: Galleria Emil, Finland
2015 GRAFOROTIKA (with Mari Prekup) – Edward Wiiralt Art Award, Estonian National Library, Tallinn, Estonia
2014 Artists Prepare for War – Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
2014 Miniprint Finland 2014 – Hyvinkää Art Museum, Hyvinkää, Finland
2013 Demodictus (with Mari Prekup + Ott Pilipenko) – Estomania 2, Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, Finland
2012 Omat Komoelmat – Nelimarkka Museum, Alajärvi, Finland
2012 neo:printprize – neo:gallery22, Bolton, UK
2012 New Prints 2012/Summer – IPCNY, New York, USA
2012 When I Shit, I Look At Andy Warhol Books – Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow, UK
2012 RSA: New Contemporaries 2012 (Fragments of an Arbitrary Dictionary of the Practical English Language) , Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
2012 The Catlin Guide 2012 Launch – Art Projects, London Art Fair, London, UK
2011 Global Container XIX – Polymer Culture Factory, Tallinn, Estonia
2011 THIS IS IT (with Roos Dijkhuizen + Susannah Stark) – Project Slogan, Aberdeen, UK
2011 Boondocks – SUPERCLUB gallery, Edinburgh, UK
2011 DESERT DESERT (degree show) – Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, UK
2011 WORK, Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, UK
2011 New Collective Unoriginal Show, RSA New Contemporaries 2011, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
2010 they are not yours, they are not mine, they are someone else’s most of the time – Project Slogan, Aberdeen, UK
2010 Exhibition Of Work Made On Exchange Around Europe During February to June 2010: Hannah Harkes, Roos Dijkhuizen, Susannah Stark (with Roos Dijkhuizen + Susannah Stark) – Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, UK
2010 Pavillon – Gallery vom Zufall und vom Glück, Hannover, Germany
2009 Anonyme Zeichner No. 10 – Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2009 Royal Scottish Academy 183rd Annual Exhibition – Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK
2009 The Black Theatre Group Exhibition – Under The Hammer, Aberdeen, UK
2008 And Then One Thing Led To Another… (collective independent exhibition with The Black Theatre Group) – Biyoni, Aberdeen, UK

PERFORMANCES
Solo:
10.10.19 Mutivana in Death by Structure performance in Maarja Nurk’s exhibition, Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
20.10.18 WELCOME TO THE OBJECTHOOD performance at the opening of NU Performance Festival, Sveta Bar, Tallinn, Estonia.
07.10.17 Event-specific performance Mutivana – Turbulant Mole /// Performance Mode, Grafodroom, Tallinn, Estonia
14-15.07.17 Great War – FUTU MUHU festival, Muhu island, Estonia
28.08.16 Chinese Dreams – Amandus Adamsoni Muuseum, Paldiski, Estonia
09.01.16 with Jonas Van den Bossche – MIM stuudio, Tallinn, Estonia
24.05.15 Hannah Solo – Hea Tuju Eksperimentaarium, Juhan’s Garden, Pelgulinn, Tallinn, Estonia
14.09.11 On Losing The Sense of Urgency (A PLAY) – Rise and Shine, Cafe Hardcore Metaphor, Tallinn, Estonia

with Giraffe With The Burning Neck circus-art-theatre:
11.06.22 “ESTOMANIA III”, Haihatus Art Center and Artsist Residency, Joutsa, Finland
15.07.17 FUTU MUHU festival, Muhu island, Estonia
01.08.15 Britta ja Ragnari pulmad, Süvahavva, Estonia
18.07.15 A.I. Kunstitalu, Muhu, Estonia

with adhesion (dance-sound collective Kaspar Aus, Hannah Harkes, Villem Jahu):
04.05.19 working man gallery presents: adhesion – Working Man Gallery, Salford, England
14.10.17 adhesion reunion presents: awesome autumn, ‘7 DAYS OF SOUND’, Vilnius Art Academy – Klaipeda faculty, Lithuania.
04.04.15 adhesion presents: Y – Y-Gallery, Tartu, Estonia
24.10.14 adhesion presents : adhesion minus kaspar – Grafodroom, Tallinn, Estonia
17.07.14 adešõn presents : derek holzer [w/ jw.f, bs + e’sp-us] – Ptarmigan, Tallinn, Estonia
21.06.14 adhesion [adhezjç] live in vilnius – bitevilnius sound festival, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
30.05.14 adhesion presents : mari esimesed hallid karvad – Grafodroom, Tallinn, Estonia
29.05.14 adhesion presents : ursa house – Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
30.04.14 adhesion presents ~ ONN LÕPETAMINE – Design and Architecture Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
14.03.14 Mustmäe World Tour – Mustamäe, Tallinn, Estonia
15.02.14 adhesion feat. Massive Carry On – Grafodroom, Tallinn, Estonia

with Toores Õlu / Toores Küpsis (Kaarel Kütas, Villem Jahu, Hannah Harkes, and others…):
10.03.18 9. märtsi tegevuskunstifestival tõsiselt naljast – Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
15.07.17 Futu Muhu festival – Muhu island, Estonia
27.06.17 Kuri Kala exhibition opening – Metropol Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia

with GRAFOROTIKA (Hannah Harkes, Mari Prekup):
16.08.15 Tam galerii – IN graafika 2015, Tallinn, Estonia
15.08.15 Endla Teater – IN graafika 2015, Pärnu, Estonia
18+19.04. 15 Red Spot performance stage – Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
06.03.15 Eduard Wiiralt Art Award opening – National Library of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia
12.11.14 Amandus Adamsoni Muuseum, Paldiski, Estonia
26.09.14 MiniMaker’s Fair, AHHAA Science Centre, Tartu, Estonia
26.07.14 InGraafika Festival, (Pärnu City Gallery, Pärnu Museum, Pärnu Artists’ House) Pärnu, Estonia

with pborn art school band:
19.04.13 – pborn LIVE – The Schauman Hall, Novia KonstSkolan, Jakobstad, Finland

OTHER EVENTS:
2023, 2022 co-curator of VMPR summer exhibition
2021, 2019, 2018, 2017 Letterpress Workers International Summit, Milan, Italy
2016 Singing Songs collaborative scenography project with Labyrinth Theatre Group G9 – Floating Castle Festival, Kozarišče, Slovenia
2015 Your Time project at NIDA inter-format symposium, NIDA Art Colony, Nida, Lithuania

RESIDENCIES and FELLOWSHIPS:
2019 Artist in Residence at Working Man Gallery, Salford, England (with adhesion collective)
2018 Artist in Residence at MAAJAAM project space, Neeruti, South-Estonia
2013 Artist in Residence at Novia Konstskolan (The Swedish Fine Art School), Jakobstad, Finland
2012 Artist in Residence at Nelimarkka Museum, Alajärvi, Finland
2012 Long distance residency with A Removable Feast at Kinning Park Complex, Glasgow, UK
2011 Residency and Fellowship at Polymer Culture Factory, Tallinn, Estonia

MEMBER OF:
Association of Estonian Printmakers, 2015 –
Estonian Artists’ Association, 2014 –
Grafodroom, 2013 – 2020
pborn, 2013 (+ founder)
The Black Theatre Group, 2008 – 2009

*
June 2021 – October 2021: maternity leave.
June 2022 – January 2023: parental leave.