Breath: the air is taken into or expelled from the lungs. 

Hansen’s artistic focus over the last few years explores the interconnectedness of all life forms on our planet. Whether it is comparing fungi to coral or creating new biomorphic forms, her encaustic sculptures will seem familiar to the viewer. 

This encaustic installation, entirely constructed from natural materials, considers the carbon cycle and the impact humanity is having upon it in the epoch of Anthropocene. Above all else humans require oxygen to live, to breathe, to take that single life-giving breath. And with an exhale we nourish that which keeps us alive. Take a deep breath and consider… 

The ocean and its plant life account for over half of the planet's oxygen production and absorb nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide generated from burning fossil fuels. Climate change and oceanic warming are resulting in the destruction of sensitive ecosystems integral to keeping the carbon cycle in balance.  

Coral reefs and kelp forests teem with colourful life, all living symbiotically and keeping the carbon cycle in equilibrium; but this coral reef lacks colour as it is symbolic of a bleached and dying ecosystem due to human activities, the husks and shells of the dead are all that remain. 

So, take a deep breath, and consider… 

Angela Hansen is a Lake Country-based artist and art instructor. She completed her BDes at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and her BEd from the University of Victoria. Angela creates primarily with encaustics, a beeswax-based painting and sculpting medium. Angela has worked with encaustic for over 20 years; its versatility of applications drives her art-making practice of both 2D and 3D works. She is inspired by forms found in the natural world, the human psyche, memory formation, and, more recently, a growing interest in ecological and environmental art practices as a factor in cultural transformations. Her recent works, a series of small wall-sculpture studies made of encaustic, natural tissue, twine and string, are inspired by Earth’s flora, and micro-fauna. She calls these biomorphic designs “Organimorphs”, as they look biologic, yet not recognizable as any particular one thing. 

For more information or to see more of her work, please visit angelahansenart.com, or follow her at @angelahansenart.