About/CV

Contact: hannasteenbergen@gmail.com

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About

My name is Hanna Steenbergen-Cockerton. I am a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersections of painting, theory, and textile craft. My work explores how cloth-based practices and the painted surface can stimulate visibility, generate awareness, and foster solidarity around questions of mental health and well-being.

The object of the quilt; its history, traditions, and the processes of patchwork and quilt-making, plays a central role in my practice. Through a language of rudimentary, geometric forms, quilt-making has become an endurance-based process that allows time to be reclaimed for digesting and exploring feelings of discomfort surrounding mental vulnerability. The slow, repetitive nature of stitching creates a rhythm that stands in contrast to the demands of productivity that often shape contemporary working life.

Experiencing burnout forced me to reconsider many aspects of my life, including my artistic practice. I began questioning its methodologies, its pace, its purpose, and even the notion of work ethic itself. This process brought forward the value of practices that are often overlooked or undervalued: care, maintenance, repair, and healing. Although my works often originate from deeply personal and intimate experiences, they function as entry points for broader conversations about the ways society struggles to acknowledge and respond to mental health.

Within my practice, craft and painting operate not only as tools for self-exploration but also as acts of resilience. I navigate between physical, psychological, and emotional modes of making, exploring how artistic production can create forms of strength, sustainability, and solidarity, both for individuals and for the communities they inhabit.

Collaboration plays an important role in this process. Through collective making practices, workshops, and shared projects, I explore how creative work can become a space for connection and mutual care. These collaborations aim to cultivate alternative ways of working and relating to one another, where creativity becomes a means of building community, sharing vulnerability, and imagining more supportive social structures.

Education

2017-2020 University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Artistic Research - MRes
2014-2017 Gerrit Rietveld Academie (NL)
- Textiles - BA
2009-2011 Cardiff School of Art,
University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UK)
- Fine Art - BA - Hons

Selected Exhibitions

2026
Self Care Manifesto – Kunst Traject, Amsterdam (upcoming)

2025
Pieced Thoughts, Woven Together, De Bouwput, Amsterdam
Fabric of Us, De Modestraat, Amsterdam
Agenda Mania, De Bouwput, Amsterdam

2024
GLUE Design Route, Amsterdam
Limburg Biennale, Marres – Huis voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Maastricht

2023
The Confessionals, Het Kunst Hek, Amsterdam
Burnout Manifestations (for lack of a better word), EM Studio Gallery, Amsterdam
Burnout Manifestations (for lack of a better word), W139 Hosts, W139, Amsterdam
Strands of Resilience, Bureau Postjesweg, Amsterdam
Vrij Paleis Open, Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam

2021
Absurd Beings; on Line, Spijkerkade Studio, Amsterdam

2019
Fold Here – Do Not Tear, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam

2018 – 2016
Foundation Jetty, Amsterdam
Neverneverland, Amsterdam
BG2, University of Amsterdam
Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam
De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam

Collaborative Projects

Burnout Bookshelf, OBA Slotermeer, Amsterdam (2025 – ongoing)
Fabric of Us – Co-founder (2024 - present)
A collective quilt-making workshop series exploring connectivity through shared making practices.
Burning Steps – Co-founder (2022 – present)
An artist duo focusing on visibility, solidarity, and resistance around the topic of burnout.

Publications/Talks

Practising Eco-Social Futures: The VOICE Artist Showcase, London, UK, (upcoming-2026)
Self-Care Manifesto; Artist Talk, Kunst traject, Amsterdam, 2026 (upcoming-2026)
Camilla World, Artist Profile: Next-Gen Quilter, interview (2024)
SOFT Quarterly, Issue 6 (2022)
Eiii Zine, The Navel, Issue 1 (2021)
Simulacrum Magazine, Love, Year 27, Issue 2 – co-editor (2018)

Teaching & Workshops

Ambulant Kunst Team, Cordaan, Amsterdam (2024 – present)
Fragmenten van Rust, Week van de Mentale Gezondheid, Thrive Amsterdam (2025)
Something Outta Nothing, GLUE Design Route workshop (2023)
Dag van de Mantelzorger brei-workshop, OBA Osdorp (2023)
Theory Teacher & Co-ordinator, TXT Department, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (2020 – 2021)

Grants/Awards

VOICE (Valorising Artist-Led Innovation Through Citizen Engagement)- Horizon Project Grant, 2025
Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK) – Project Grant Professionele Kunst, 2025
Gerrit Rietveld Academie Thesis Prize – nominated, 2017

Last Updated 24.10.37