First & Last is proud to present an exhibition of new paintings and prints by Sussex based artist, Hannah Forward.

Hannah's paintings draw on her work as an illustrator, creating editorial work for magazines and newspapers such as The Guardian, taking up printmaking to become an artist in 2013. You can see the illustrative influence as she collects cameras, guitar pedals or cassettes to present as graphic art.

She uses vivid colours and bold shapes to create detailed, textured prints which have a sense of movement and strong graphic quality. Her paintings celebrate snapshots of a place at a specific time, like a photograph taken as a tourist to keep.

Hannah has had a fascination for painting road scenes, as much of her childhood growing up in suburban London was spent in the back seat of cars listening to tapes on her beloved Walkman. She tries to capture a dreamy, nostalgic feeling for these family holidays, driving for what felt like days, a warm feeling tinged with an uneasiness for the unexplored world that existed outside the safety of the car.

Hannah has slowly been developing a love for creating small, esoteric, intimate paintings alongside her work as a printmaker. Inspired by cinema and film photography, she paints with acrylic on smooth wood and manages to capture a warm, nostalgic, at times slightly sinister feeling even in the smallest of her works.

Hannah’s paintings have been described as: "An ongoing series of small, precious paintings, with many of the details skipped over. Like postcards from a dream, they leave it for the viewer's imagination to finish the story."