Biography

Hannah Epstein grew up in remote Nova Scotia before going to college in even more remote Newfoundland where she studied folklore and learned how to make hooked rugs. After getting her MFA at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, she added conceptual rigor to her practice and became, as she calls herself, “a feminist folklorist of the internet age.” Her hooked rugs of monsters, internet memes and historically-inspired creatures are both humorous and disconcerting. Mixed-media artist Hannah Epstein is known for hooked rugs that combine visuals culled from folklore and the internet. Mounted as wall works, these pieces have garnered her widespread acclaim. An MFA graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Epstein had her first solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto just two years after she finished her degree. Her self-described “neofolk” hybrid and imaginary creatures draw on her studies in folklore at Memorial University in Canada, but are also rooted in internet memes lifted from comics and video games. Interested in collapsing boundaries between highbrow and lowbrow culture, Epstein brings her icons of counterculture to life. She also creates digital works crafted with algorithms and animations.