Meet Stephanie Hanlon | Artist, Photographer & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephanie Hanlon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
“I begin with love, hoping to end there.” This is the opening line of Jericho Brown’s poem Duplex. This is my mantra in everything I do. I don’t always know what I’m doing, what the right decision is. In fact, I’m often overthinking things and really unsure of how to proceed in any given moment. So I use love as my guiding light. When I’m lost, confused or not sure which road to take, I begin with love, hoping to end there. I love who I am, I love what I do, I love the people in my life, and I pour as much as I can into those things. Sometimes it ends with love, sometimes it doesn’t, but I’m always sure it wasn’t because of a lack of love on my part. With art you never really know what’s going to speak to other people, I’m still surprised at which pieces most resonate with people and which ones don’t. So I’ve learned that’s not something to really focus on. I have to lean on my love to guide my art. Do I love making this? Do I love what I created? Which piece is based in my authentic love? Which piece invokes the most love in me? It makes decisions a lot easier. It’s always great when other people love it too but if I have a foundation of my own love in it, then it’s a success regardless of what other people think.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My art is essential for my survival. From a young age, I discovered that creativity helped me release all the intense emotions I’ve always felt, both freeing me of them and helping me process them. I had a professor once who told us that an artist isn’t a painter, or a writer, or a musician, or any of those things – an artist is a sponge in the world, absorbing all the pain and beauty and then putting it back out into the world through paintings, books, and music so that other people can experience and understand it without having to succumb to it. I thought that was so beautiful and it really helped me to understand myself and my art better. I approach art making from an emotional perspective, rooted in what I feel within myself and what I observe out in the world. I want to help people experience the hard things in a way that’s healing and restorative.

Having worked as a journalist for many years, my art is very much rooted in storytelling and reality, with questions woven in, as well as truths that might not be so obvious on first glance. There often is a documentary element in that I’m trying to tell people something through narrative. But I also like to experiment with long exposures, finding hidden truths within a moment. After journalism I spent time in academia, teaching journalism and communications, so there are many intellectual influences as well. I think my background in journalism, academia and the arts has really given me a variety of experiences to call on as I experiment and create.

My journey hasn’t been easy. It’s included loss, divorce, hurricanes, evacuations, heartache, pandemics (yes, more than one), illness, you name it. That’s why I lean into the hard; I have to. While there are the standard challenges every artist faces: learning methods and craft, finding your voice, putting yourself out there – all of that comes with time and hard work. It’s the emotional hurdles that are hard to prepare for and unpredictable in their ultimate impact, which is why it all has to become art. It’s a matter of survival. I always tell young writers or photographers, the skill can be learned with time and dedication – anyone can learn the craft. The ideas, the stories, that’s what sets you apart, that’s the true gift that we all have but that we don’t all discover.

I’m most excited about the work that stirs something in others. Some of my most impactful work is around topics that might make people feel uncomfortable or expose parts of ourselves that haven’t been exposed before. Often my work involves honesty, vulnerability, and putting my heart and soul out for everyone to see and critique. My family portrait series is a conversation around parenting in America, and not every parent is ready to admit that it’s a struggle. I think parents are just starting to feel more comfortable talking openly about the difficult parts of parenting. But I’m hoping to open the conversation on how we can be better as a society, so collectively, parents and non parents, all recognize the role we play in raising the next generation.

Ultimately, I want people to leave feeling more loved, more seen, than when they entered. My legacy, I hope, will be one of love, shown even from the depths of pain and despair, felt even in the most difficult moments. You’ll often see movement depicted in my work, that’s no accident. I’m not exploring one-dimensional emotions but complex ones that often reveal themselves in between moments, the gestures and paths that take us from one place or state into another. Even if we manage to end with love, a whole lot happened in between that got us to that point – I want people to feel all that too.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

There is so much to do in Atlanta, so much nightlife, nature, art, music, food and culture. Here are a few of my favorites but there is so much more.

Day One:
Bike on the Beltline
Shopping at Ponce City Market
Eat at Ton Ton Ramen
View art and meet artists at Echo Contemporary
Go dancing at Rocksteady

Day Two:
Visit the Atlanta Contemporary Museum of Art
Thrifting and record shopping at Little Five Points
Get some lemon pepper wings at Brewhouse 
Catch some live music at Star Community Bar

Day Three:
Check out some photography-based galleries: Atlanta Photography Group and Jackson Fine Art
Photowalk checking out views on top of parking garages in downtown
Get a selfie at Jackson Street Bridge
Explore nightlife of Castleberry Hill

Day Four:
Visit the Atlanta History Center
Check out street art from Krog Street Market to Cabbagetown
Eat at Carroll Street Cafe
Barhop on Edgewood Avenue

Day Five:
Hike Stone Mountain
Visit Martin Luther King Historical Site
Eat at Sweet Auburn Market
Barhop in East Atlanta Village

Day six
Brunch 
Attend a Thrd Space Event
Visit the High Museum
Rent scooters in Piedmont Park

Day Seven:
Get Dim Sum at Canton House
Visit Jeju Spa
Hear Spoken word at the Apache

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this shoutout to my daughter. She is a constant source of love and inspiration. Even the difficult parts about being her mother inspire me and remind me why I do what I do. She is a creative powerhouse in her own right. I believe she will be an artist too one day. Maybe with music as she studies the electric bass and has the natural talent of being able to repeat any melody after only hearing it once. She is also quite good at photography herself and was recently in her first exhibit. She loves helping me on shoots, holding lights and reflectors, taking behind the scenes footage. She’s been essential in my family portrait series, both from an inspirational perspective and a logistical one. The challenges we’ve faced as a family of two inspired the concept as it forced me to think about what it means to raise a child without a village, without a support system. I admire her as a person and every day I try to be better than I was the day before for her. She grounds me and gives me all the reason I need to keep pushing forward and building the best and most inspiring life I can for us both.

Website: www.stephaniehanlon.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/literary.lens/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/literarylens

Other: https://medium.com/literary-lens

Image Credits
The two photos of me holding cameras were taken by Goebbels Erasme, the photo of me and my daughter holding cameras was taken by James Ly. All other photos were taken by myself.