Luminescence (The Fall of Home) questions the accepted permanence of the archive. By introducing the simultaneously fixed and unstable nature of ice as a medium for archival material, the archive is continually broken down and re-ordered. As the vulnerable material is exposed it joins a time-limited archive in a gradually reduced state, thus the original form of the archive is irretrievably lost.
The work centers around the location in which it is being produced, the Historic Dockyard at Chatham. Through research into the closure of the Yard in 1984, Hannah is interested in history as one continuous, repeating cycle. The buildings within the dockyard continue to survive its occupants, thus the walls act as a living witness to history. On the South wall of the Ropery one can find hundreds of names and initials scratched into the bricks, left behind by ex-dockyard workers; a collective memory within the community.
Though the size and atmosphere of the dockyard may have changed dramatically over time, it continues to face the same challenges that threaten its existence and the lives of those connected to it. Hannah aims to investigate the impact of bringing artists to the Dockyard, previously referred to as "bringing the traditional role of dockyards as providers of high quality education back to the forefront of activity at the Historic Dockyard" (The Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2015).
But in the end, will it all just melt away and disappear?