Artwork copyright Mercer Hanau. Photo courtesy of the artist, 2023.

Artwork copyright Mercer Hanau. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Everything Time Studio, 2023.

Artwork copyright Mercer Hanau. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Everything Time Studio, 2023.

Remembering to Forget the Names of Things, 2020

Mercer Hanau
(American, born 1995)

Location: Elk Ridge Elementary, Buckley

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Remembering to Forget the Names of Things by Mercer Hanau explores our practices of "looking" and "naming" objects in nature. Hanau notes "I thought about the duality between wanting to name and wishing I could 'unname' plants to be able to observe them as if for the first time." It was made with plants gathered from the artist’s home and surroundings: wild roses, blackberries, apples, plums, and fennel. Hanau adds, "Spending time in nature is just one doorway into a curious state of mind… Categories often oversimplify a world in which many things are intersectional and in flux, from personal identities and beliefs to arbitrary boundaries between organisms."

This artwork is a cyanotype or "sun print" – a simple photo printing process in blue tones. It captures some information like basic shapes, while removing color, depth, and most details. Hanau added some watercolor painting to the cyanotype.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with White River School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mercer Hanau is a Seattle-based artist working with printmaking, cyanotype, video, and digital art. Her work is inspired by the intersections of science and culture, and often features animals and plants with a sense of reverence and surrealism.
Hanau grew up in Portland, Oregon. She graduated from Whitman College (in Walla Walla, Southeastern Washington) with a major in Studio Art and a minor in Film and Media Studies in 2018.