Hannah Taylor is a professional performance artist having performed internationally, both in group shows in London, Bath, Oxford and Birmingham, festivals across Sweden, London and Wolverhampton and four solo shows across the West Midlands. Trained at Royal College of Art, a member of Disorder Live art collective and an alumni of Black Hole Club. 

  She is also the director of Asylum Artist Quarter CIC and The Asylum art gallery LTD and responsible for developing the artist studios in Darlington street Wolverhampton and leading the funding and program strategy for the organisation for the next two years that promotes an engagement of local artists whose research is concerned with the sociopolitical lanscape of their city.   

She has to take on multiple roles and skills on a regular basis, performer, poet, events organiser, budget manager, mentor and curator, but all of her work stems from a passion for inclusivity and equal opportunity.   

Having met the founder of the gallery Corin Stephenson Salter in 2015, at the time she was suffering with a rare blood condition and severe mental health issues in consequence to having intensive regular treatment and no financial independance.   

It was the support of Corin and the gallery that gave her a free space to explore her trauma and grief somewhere safe by developing and showcasing several performance installations. When having a splenectonmy put her in remission she managed to train as a disability support worker and this opportunity gave her insights into the institutional bias and societal restrictions that are placed on those with disabilities, health concerns, financial hardship or learning differences. She's had the priveledge of facilitating and supporting some incredible students throughout her four years as a support worker in higher educational institutions, but it has also given her the financial independance to commit to developing a sustainable independant art organisation in Wolverhampton. 

  She works to intergrate the same principles of equal opportunity and inclusive cohesive structures into the way the gallery functions, develops programs and supports its local community to develop, create and showcase their work. 

  The year sees the completion of an arts council project that promotes research into strategies for regeneration of the high street through community led arts and culture and an employability program for unemployed creatives who wish to develop professional skills for career development in creative industry.   

Her performance work explores physical trauma, neurosis and catharsis through public engagement in the act of ritual and this acknowledgment of personal stories, trauma and the need for reconnection is evident throughout her other vocations.   

To talk to Hannah about the arts organisation; www.theasylumartgallery.com   To View Hannahs artwork; www.hermasks.co.uk @hannahmaryartist