Hanna Lee Joshi Makes Cover of Hi-Fructose Magazine


An effusive Hanna Lee Joshi (BMA 2008) recently took to Instagram to announce her work would grace the cover of the 59th volume of international contemporary arts magazine Hi-Fructose.

The achievement puts Hanna’s work onto the page alongside legendary artists including Yayoi Kusama, Alex Grey and Yuko Shimizu.

“I’ve been a fan of the magazine since my early days at Emily Carr and it felt very surreal,” Hanna tells me via email. “I was overwhelmed with feelings of immense gratitude and excitement. It still hasn't sunk in even after holding the magazine in my hands. I have a lot of people to thank because I know they were the key to some of the pivotal moments in my career.”

The featured image, titled I’m a little shy … but that’s ok, was completed in 2020 for a group show at Spoke Art gallery in San Francisco, Hanna says. The gouache and coloured pencil work on paper belongs to an ongoing series exploring female forms. Hanna says the works are self portraits in a way, and often reflect “personal aspects of my life including themes of autonomy, taking up space and dismantling inner boundaries that I put up for myself.”

Hanna says her work made the Hi-Fructose cover after the co-founder most likely came across the image on social media — a key tool for amplifying your reach as an artist. Group shows and membership in platforms including BOOOOOOOM have also offered important opportunities to increase her visibility. Shows in physical galleries have also been instrumental in increasing the reach of her work to new audiences.

“The Internet is vast but surprisingly small,” she says.

Any creative career involves “journeying through uncharted territories,” Hanna says. Each path will be as unique as the individual travelling it. For that reason, making your way as an artist or designer can be tremendously challenging. No roadmap exists, because no two people will succeed in the same way.

“Our own expectations and those of others around us can sometimes discourage us from our practice,” Hanna says. “I’ve tried time and again to set personal expectations aside and focus on the work without knowing what the outcome will be. It is an ongoing battle for me as well and hence I need to reorient myself to focus on the process and less on expected outcomes. Speaking with other artist friends, I’ve realized that this is quite a universal obstacle we go through as artists.”

See more of Hanna’s works, including her ongoing series at hannaleejoshi.com.