Hannah is an artist and researcher with a background in History of Art, Museum Studies, and Art in Science. Her practice explores the relationships between art, technology, and the natural world – with a particular interest in endangered plants and the ways they are preserved and communicated to the public. Her work combines research with sculpture, digital media, and speculative narratives to create accessible and engaging encounters with scientific ideas. She is especially interested in how creative approaches can broaden public engagement with environmental research and encourage new ways of thinking about our relationships with more-than-human life.

Project: Look But Don’t Touch

‘Look But Don’t Touch’ (2026) is a practice-based research project exploring how artistic approaches can create new ways of documenting and preserving plant life. The project focuses on Paphiopedilum lawrenceanum, a critically endangered species of slipper orchid, and considers how botanical archives might be reimagined to encourage greater public engagement with plant conservation issues.

The project combines sculpture, digital media, sound, and scientific data to create a hybrid archive of the orchid. A 3D-printed resin sculpture represents the plant physically, whilst a digital archive brings together genetic information and artistic interpretations of the species.

A key element of the project is a bioelectric music piece, which translates electrical signals from a living orchid into sound, allowing the plant to become an active participant in the work. An interactive fictional archive set in 2080 further explores how plants might be remembered and preserved in the future.

Together, these elements explore alternative ways of collecting, preserving, and communicating knowledge about plants through art and technology.

‘Look But Don’t Touch’ was presented in a pop-up installation and focus group at the John Lennon Art and Design Building before being exhibited as part of the REFOCUS: Art in Science show in the Atrium Gallery.