ABOUT
Alanna creates abstract work that explores trauma and connection through an embodied lens. She is interested in how trauma lives in the body, how it interrupts the flow of life, and how its impact echoes across communities and generations. Her work investigates the complexities of human relationships — the ways power, compromise, and intimacy shape our inner and outer worlds.
Using abstract ribbon-like forms, she creates visual metaphors for emotional dynamics. These flowing shapes are often pushed, pulled, interrupted, or entangled — revealing moments of tension, resistance, or surrender. Ribbons twist, split, converge, and spiral in a visual choreography of give and take.
Her drawings are built slowly through meditative layers of crosshatched colored pencil and wax pastel. This process produces soft, textured surfaces that invite viewers to look closely, slow down, and remain present. Through this work, Alanna offers a space for emotional resonance — a quiet unfolding of memory, darkness, and the possibility of light.
Alanna Hernandez (b. 1988) grew up on Cape Cod, and graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2010, where she earned a B.A. in Middle East Studies. During this time she gained some formal art training, as well as education in history, religion, and language. Her work combines her formal education in the arts and humanities, exploration of spirituality, and self-taught art skills. She has lived in Midcoast Maine since 2018. She has shown work in London and New York, and recently finished a residency at Monson Arts in Maine.
CV
Solo and Duo Exhibitions:
2025 FOLLOW THE DARKNESS DOWN, online solo exhibition, Purslane Art, London UK.
2025 HOME BODY, duo exhibition with Carla Weeks, Primary Gallery, Miami, FL
2023 UNDER THE STRAIN, solo exhibition, Soho Revue Gallery, London, UK
2022 SENSE STREAM Purslane Art, online solo exhibition, Purslane Art, London UK. https://www.purslane.co.uk/sense-stream-alanna-hernandez
2022 DRAWING WITHIN, solo exhibition, Interloc Projects, Rockland, ME
Group Exhibitions:
2024 ARTFEEDS, group exhibition and benefit auction, Page Gallery and AIO Food Pantry, Camden, ME
2024 ART YOU LOVE AUCTION, group exhibition and auction to support the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
2023 WINTER EXHIBITION, group exhibition, Parsonage Gallery, Searsport ME. 2023 LITTLES, group exhibition, Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Falmouth, ME
2023 ABSTRACT 2.0, group exhibition, Room 57 Gallery, NYC, NY
2023 ARTFEEDS, group exhibition and benefit auction, Page Gallery and AIO Food Pantry, Camden, ME
2023 SPRING, group exhibition, Primary Projects, Miami, FL
2023 LATENT DREAMING, group exhibition, See Food Room, Hong Kong
2023 CENTER FOR MAINE CONTEMPORARY ART BIENNIAL, juried group exhibition, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
2022 INSIDE DRAFTSWOMEN, group exhibition curated by Christine Brey, Feinkunst Kruger, Hamburg, Germany.
2022 ARTPM, group exhibition, Buoy Gallery, Kittery, ME.
2021 LAUNDRY DAY 3, community exhibition and auction, New Systems Exhibitions, Portland, ME.
2021 IN COLOR, juried exhibition, Cape Cod Cultural Center, South Yarmouth MA
2019 Archipelago, The Island Institute Store, Rockland ME
2018 PLAY: ART INSPIRED BY CHILDRENS’ ART, juried exhibition, The Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
2018 HEALING NATURE: HUMAN VISION, ART, & THE ENVIRONMENT, juried exhibtion, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
Residencies and Awards:
2025 Innovate Grant Winner, https://innovateartistgrants.org/alanna-hernandez
2025 Monson Arts Resident, https://monsonarts.org
Press:
2023 March 22, The New York Times, "Hong Kong's New Kids on the Block", NY, USA
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/arts/design/hong-kong-galleries-new.html?searchResultPosition=5
2023 February 12, The Portland Press Herald, "Identity, Environment, and Resourcefulness all Served up at The Excellent CMCA Biennial", Portland, ME, USA https://www.pressherald.com/2023/02/12/identity-environment-and-resourcefulness-all-served-up-at-the-excellent-cmca-biennial/
2022 June, L'Officiel Mexico, "Trauma and human relationships under the artistic magnifying glass of Alanna Hernandez", https://www.lofficielmexico.com/arte-y-cultura/alanna-hernandez-arte-contemporaneo
2022 May, ArtMaze Magazine, Issue #27, London, UK
2022 January Booooooom Artist Spotlight, https://www.booooooom.com/2022/02/01/artist-spotlight-alanna-hernandez/
2021 August, ArtMaze Magazine, Issue #23, Curated by Julie Tuyet Curtiss, London, UK
2017 December, Birdy Magazine, Denver, CO
2017 August, Birdy Magazine, Denver, CO
2017 July, Birdy Magazine, Denver, CO
Education:
2010 University of Massachusetts Amherst, Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies.