Hannah Gilleon is an artist and graphic designer whose work explores the relationship between nature and humanity, examining how each influences the other. Through conceptual design, she investigates themes of environmental responsibility, preservation, and human impact. Gilleon was featured on the cover of the 2024 Undergraduate Research Journal at Georgia College & State University and was selected for the 2025 Peach Belt Art Exhibition. Her recent body of work incorporates elements of security design to depict endangered florals, using visual language associated with protection and value to underscore their urgent need for human stewardship. Through research-driven design and symbolism, Gilleon sparks awareness and encourage a deeper sense of accountability toward the natural world.
Project Statement
Asymptote* is a large-scale graphic print that evokes value and loss. It depicts endangered plants through the medium of security design. This method underscores that these plants need protection, just as currency needs protection against counterfeiting, and is not replaceable once lost. The large scale is meant to overwhelm the viewer with the weight of what we are losing. To magnify this loss, one side of the piece will be alive and healthy, but the other will be withered and gray. Nature is more than just an economic resource and deserves to be protected. Through this series, I strive to bring about the realization that the betterment of the environment is synonymous with the betterment of humanity.
*Asymptote is a mathematical term that refers to a curve or line that continually approaches a point that it never quite reaches. It marks the point at which continuation becomes impossible. This term conceptually encapsulates themes of extinction and decay while referencing the visual language of lines that make up the composition.
Artist Statement
I am an artist and designer who works primarily in digital media. I create my forms using pattern and line to evoke manmade security and highlight the scarcity and fragility of my subject matter. The core theme of my work is endangered plants and the inevitable extinction that will occur if their habitats continue to be treated as carelessly as they have been in the past. I am interested in the relationship between growth and extinction and how mankind has been and will be involved in the ultimate outcome. I explore this tension between the natural and the artificial by using security design techniques to depict organic subject matter. Security design is used by governments to prevent counterfeiting items such as passports and currency. It is created through the use of subtle color gradients and overlapping patterns. I use these complexities to embed hidden information such as maps of where the plant can be found and patterns of their chemical makeup. This same care that is dedicated towards protecting our governments should be devoted to protecting our world. Through my work, I seek to set aside moments to experience the beauty and loss of nature. It is easy to treat our environment as an unobtrusive background, but I strive to push it to the foreground and spread awareness about how dangerously close we are to losing so many irreplicable things.
