Unite This Kingdom'Unite This Kingdom' stood as Hannah's 2017 final major project for university. Continuing on from her dissertation, this visual study represented the diverse ancestries of fourteen British volunteers.
⟢ Inspiration ⟣In 2016, Hannah took a DNA test and discovered that her ethnicity was more mixed than she had ever imagined. Only half of Hannah's genes were British, and the other half belonged to Irish, Russian, Spanish, Sardinian, and South Asian lineages. This left her wondering: if Britain was conquered by the Romans, the Vikings, the Angles, the Saxons, the Normans... after centuries of trade, migration, and colonisation – how many cultures were intertwined with Britain today?
⟢ The Objective ⟣The idea behind this project was to promote self-love and a wider appreciation for all cultures intertwined within the ever-changing face of Great Britain. Each individual's ethnic mix was represented using body language and fashion in a Victorian-themed portrait to signify the common British ancestry in all fourteen people. Most of Hannah's models spoke about the past – immigration, racism, and how their families had been caught up in shifting politics over time.
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⟢ Feedback ⟣Hannah's project achieved press coverage with Sunderland Vibe magazine and Sun FM radio, as well as social media support from Ancestry UK – the largest ethnic testing database company in the world. This project simply asks: what do you know about your roots?
'Unite This Kingdom' was displayed to the public in a group exhibition at the 'Design Degree Show' in CitySpace, Sunderland, in June 2017. |
