Artist Database

Hannah Macfarlane (b.1996) is a Cape Town-based artist working at the intersection of fine art and craft. Specializing in wool work, particularly wet felting, her practice engages with themes of catharsis, labour, intimacy, and vulnerability. Macfarlane graduated with a BA Fine Arts from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2020 and has since exhibited in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Paris, and London. In 2021, she was selected for Latitudes’ Artist Lab and Fresh Voices at Guns & Rain. In 2022, she participated in African Galleries Now, the Karoo National Arts Festival, and Art Joburg. That same year, she completed a residency at SAFFCA’s Knysna centre. In 2023, her work featured in Christophe Person, Paris, and the Soft Power exhibition at Addis Fine Art, London.

Macfarlane’s wool sculptures explore “vulnerability and intimacy” through a labor-intensive wet-felting process that transforms raw wool into strong, tactile forms. Her work reflects the symbiotic relationship between nature and humanity, encouraging “a change in perspective” by normalizing seemingly imperfect forms and cultivating an ethics of care through touch.