Hannah Chalew Wins Southern Prize 2022 With Anthropocene Art Practice

Hannah Chalew. Courtesy South Arts.

By Sam Gaskin – 2 September 2022, New Orleans

South Arts today announced New Orleans-based artist Hannah Chalew the winner of the Southern Prize.

Inspired by the idea of the Anthropocene, in which human actions are a major driver of geological change, Chalew creates drawings using ink made from oak apples and shells, and sculptures that incorporate plastic waste, sugarcane, and live plants.

‘I make work that connects fossil fuel extraction and plastic production to their roots in the white supremacy and capitalism that have fueled the exploitation of people and the landscape from the times of colonisation and enslavement,’ she says in her artist statement.

Chalew wins US $25,000 in addition to the $5,000 she received as one of nine state fellows. Finalist Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo (Tennessee) will receive $10,000, and both artists will undergo two-week artist residencies at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences.

Hannah Chalew, Flotant Year (2020). Metal, sugarcane, disposable plastic waste, soil, living plants, iron oak gall ink, ink made from shells. 76 x 48 x 34” inches. Courtesy the artist and South Arts.

‘Hannah’s work is talking about the environment and ecology without being overly didactic,’ said the prize’s jury. ‘Something about its lushness and the way in which it mimics the environment itself by using natural materials as part of the work are what drew us into these constructions.’

‘When you get close to the work, the details might become an entire landscape within itself,’ they said.

Hannah Chalew advocated for supporting artists working outside America’s main art centres.

‘My work is deeply grounded in the specificity of my home landscape, Southern Louisiana,’ she told Ocula Magazine. ‘It is a microcosm for what’s at stake on our warming planet.’

‘For these reasons,’ she said, ‘it would not be possible to make my artwork in NYC or Los Angeles but I do believe that this work has deep relevance to the greater art world, and I’m very thankful to South Arts for the financial support so that I can invest in my practice and build connections to these art centres.’

The other state fellows nominated for the Southern Prize this year are: Jenny Fine (Alabama), GeoVanna Gonzalez (Florida), Antonio Darden (Georgia), Crystal Gregory (Kentucky), Gloria Gipson Suggs (Mississippi), Marcus Dunn (North Carolina), and Brittany M. Watkins (South Carolina). —[O]

Main image: Hannah Chalew. Courtesy South Arts.

Sam Gaskin Sam Gaskin has covered contemporary art for over a decade, mostly from Shanghai, China.