Hannah Altman

A graduate of Hunterdon Central Regional High School, Altman grew up in the Ringoes section of East Amwell Township, New Jersey.{{Cite web |title=B.F.A. Photography Alumna Hannah Altman Named to List of "Exciting Contemporary Photographers Whose Work You Have to See" in Vanity Fair |url=https://www.pointpark.edu/news-communication/Hannah-Altman.html |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Point Park University |language=en}} She is Jewish of Ashkenazi descent.{{Cite web |last=Brager |first=Solomon |date=2022-08-15 |title=States of Mind |url=https://www.artforum.com/slant/toward-an-alternative-future-for-jewish-art-88879 |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}} She started photographing as a child in response to her severe nearsightedness.{{Cite web |title=Q&A: Hannah Altman |url=https://www.strangefirecollective.com/qa-hannah-altman |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Strange Fire |language=en-US}} She graduated from with a BFA in photography from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA in 2017 and an MFA in Photography and Film from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA in 2020.

Since 2015, Altman has made the project Indoor Voices, a series of portraits made with her mother.{{Cite web |title=Hannah Altman Takes Healing Portraits of Herself with Her Mother |url=http://fotoroom.co/indoor-voices-hannah-altman/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=FotoRoom |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=A Look at Womanhood through an Intimate Collaboration |url=https://phmuseum.com/news/portraying-womanhood-through-an-intimate-collaboration |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=phmuseum.com |language=en}}

In 2015, when Altman was a 19-year-old student at Point Park University, she posted the photo series And Everything Nice to her Tumblr page featuring bodily fluids replaced with glitter as a critique of female beauty standards. The project garnered significant media attention, with features including Buzzfeed,{{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Rossalyn |title=A Woman Has Shown The Damaging Expectations Of Female Beauty By Using Glitter |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/rossalynwarren/a-woman-has-shown-the-damaging-expectations-of-female-beauty |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=BuzzFeed |date=18 February 2015 |language=en-gb}} Huffington Post,{{Cite web |date=2015-02-19 |title=A Stunning, Glittery Look At The Impossible Beauty Standards Women Face |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hannah-altman-glitter-photos_n_6715708 |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} Vanity Fair, and Cosmopolitan.{{Cite web |date=2015-02-19 |title=8 Powerful Photos That Will Change the Way You Think About What Is and Isn't Ladylike |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a36705/hannah-altman-photo-series-and-everything-nice/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Cosmopolitan |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Lizarondo |first=Leah |date=2015-02-28 |title=Point Park student's glitter photographs on the damaging side of female beauty go viral |url=http://nextpittsburgh.com/uncategorized/point-park-students-photographs-go-viral/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=NEXTpittsburgh |language=en-US}} She had her first solo show in 2016 at The Lantern Gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which explored themes of feminism and community.{{Cite web |last=Bernabo |first=David |date=2016-10-25 |title=Comfortable and Powerful: A Conversation with Hannah Altman |url=http://theglassblock.com/2016/10/25/comfortable-powerful-conversation-hannah-altman/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=The Glassblock |language=en-US}}

In 2018, as an MFA student at Virginia Commonwealth University, she began working on Kavana, a photography project that explores Jewish memory, narrative heirlooms, and image making.{{Cite web |title="Kavana" by Photographer Hannah Altman |url=https://www.booooooom.com/2020/10/15/kavana-by-photographer-hannah-altman/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=BOOOOOOOM! |language=en-US}} Kris Graves Projects published a photobook of this work in 2020,{{Cite web |title=Kavana: Hannah Altman |url=https://www.krisgravesprojects.com/book/kavana |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=+ KGP {{!}} MONOLITH |language=en-US}} which has been collected by several libraries, including the MoMa, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Harvard University.{{Cite book |last=Altman |first=Hannah |url=https://koha.arcadia.edu/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=2787103 |title=Kavana: photography, Jewish storytelling, and memory |date=2020 |publisher=Kris Graves Projects |edition=First |location=Queens, New York |oclc=1240261923}}{{Cite web |title=Kavana : photography, Jewish storytelling, and memory

|url=https://library.moma.org/discovery/fulldisplay?&context=L&vid=01NYA_INST:MoMA&search_scope=MoMA&tab=MoMA&docid=alma991007311639707141 |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=library.moma.org |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Altman |first=Hannah |url=https://library.metmuseum.org:443/record=b2012641~S1 |title=Kavana |date=2020 |publisher=Kris Graves Projects |location=New York}} Curator Francesca Cesari described her work in 2022 as:

"The powerful aesthetic and the profound, symbolic message her works conveys are a fresh, unexpected narrative that immediately leads to a tale of tradition and contemporary. Her poetic language tells us about the Yiddish diaspora through staged portraits, rituals and symbols that re-elaborate old experiences, deeply rooted in the past yet extremely present. There is a kind of silence that flutters through the pictures, we tend to feel the same respect we have in front of a sacred image and at the same time we recognize the tangible sensuality of bodies, with a focus on the female figures. The wonderful use of light and the simple but effective scenes reveal how the experience of exile contain both grief and resilience, a strong identity with a special code that is still relevant today."{{Cite web |title=Prize Winners |url=https://www.portraits-hellerau.com/en/prizewinners/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=PORTRAITS – Hellerau Photography Award |language=en-US}}

In 2023, she became the inaugural Blanksteen Artist in Residence at the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale.{{Cite web |last=Decombes |first=Carla |date=2023-01-26 |title=PROFILE: Hannah Altman, inaugural Blanksteen Artist in Residence at the Slifka Center |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/01/26/profile-hannah-altman-inaugural-blanksteen-artist-in-residence-at-the-slifka-center/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}} She was also named an Aperture Portfolio Prize finalist in 2023.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-18 |title=Announcing the 2023 Aperture Portfolio Prize Shortlist |url=https://aperture.org/editorial/announcing-the-2023-aperture-portfolio-prize-shortlist/ |access-date=2023-04-19 |website=Aperture |language=en-US}}

• 2023 We Will Return to You. Abakus Projects. Boston, MA.{{Cite web |title=October, 2023: Altman {{!}} Fine Art Photography Gallery in Boston |url=https://www.abakusprojects.com/altman-we-will-return-to-you |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=ABAKUS PROJECTS |language=en-US}}
• 2022 With Rifts and Collapses. Gallery 263. Cambridge, MA.
• 2021 A Permanent Home in the Mouth of the Sun. Filter Space. Chicago, IL.
• 2021 A Permanent Home in the Mouth of the Sun. AAP Exhibition Space. Pittsburgh, PA.{{Cite web |title=A Permanent Home in the Mouth of the Sun |url=https://www.aapgh.org/a-permanent-home-in-the-mouth-of-the-sun |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Associated Artists of Pittsburgh |language=en-US}}
• 2020 Kavana. Blue Sky Gallery. Portland, OR.
• 2018 Construct of Viewpoint. Union Hall Gallery. Pittsburgh, PA.{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Megan |date=2018-02-05 |title=Artist Hannah Altman's solo exhibit 'Construct of Viewpoint' brings images to life on textile works |url=https://local-pittsburgh.com/arts/artist-hannah-altmans-solo-exhibit-construct-of-viewpoint-brings-images-to-life-on-textile-works/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=LOCALPittsburgh |language=en}}
• 2017 Construct of Viewpoint. Junior High Gallery. Los Angeles, CA.
• 2017 Humanism. The Temple Judea Museum. Elkins Park, PA.
• 2016 Luminous / Weightless. Lantern Gallery. Pittsburgh, PA.
• 2016 Intimate Threat, with Josh Escoto. Curated by Krista Wright. Trust Arts Education Center. Pittsburgh, PA.

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Category:1995 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:Jews from New Jersey

Category:Hunterdon Central Regional High School alumni

Category:Photographers from New Jersey

Category:Point Park University alumni

Category:Virginia Commonwealth University alumni

Category:People from East Amwell Township, New Jersey