Instant Regret
| Height | 70 cm |
|---|---|
| Width | 80 cm |
| Length/Depth | 2 cm |
Medium:
Acrylic/oil pastel/ink on raw canvas
Technique:
Painting on canvas.
The fabric was part of a performance entitled ‘Wäsche’ (2025), in which the fabric was first dyed and then unsuccessfully washed in an attempt to remove the dye. The performance alludes to the inherent nature of shame. Therefore, please note the reverse side and the dual dating (2025+2026).
Shipping:
The work is shipped stretched on a stretcher frame – including a certificate of authenticity and a signature on the reverse.
About the work ‘:’
The work “Instant Regret” forms part of an exploration of shame as a socially conditioned emotion – an emotion that is frequently censored, repressed and stigmatised.
On the one hand, those who feel shame try to hide it and shake it off. On the other hand, shame itself is a social taboo that, paradoxically, perpetuates itself: by not talking about shame, we simultaneously obscure the practices of shaming that are actually worthy of shame.
The focus is on bodily shame as a culturally learnt and historically developed phenomenon. This is already evident in art history in the figure of the ‘Venus pudica’ (modest Venus) – a term which, since Bernoulli (1873), has been used to describe depictions of Aphrodite who modestly covers her body.
The historian Ute Frevert (2015) describes the instrumentalisation of the body through practices of shaming, which has been at work since the 19th century: In an era that both suppressed and obsessively focused on sexuality, young girls were brought up to feel ashamed of their bodies, to cover them up and to hide them from male gazes.
However, body shame arises not only from nudity, but also from deviating from social norms. Traumatic experiences can become deeply ingrained in the body as shame and powerlessness. Contemporary phenomena such as body shaming and slut shaming – the denigration of individuals on the basis of their bodies or their sexual behaviour – demonstrate how these mechanisms continue to operate to this day and are constantly reproduced in the media and popular culture. As Frevert puts it: “They attach themselves to the body and remain stuck to it – both literally and figuratively.”
Leoni Hannah, 2026
Leoni Hannah
Nevin Aladağ
’s class.
I work across different media, including painting, installation, video and performance. In doing so, I use my own body and stylised figurations to convey psychological and physical sensations.
My central themes are the emotions of guilt and shame as collective experiences
,
and their treatment as social taboos. Time and again, I circle back to the question of what traces shame leaves behind – in memories, relationships and one’s own self-image.
For
me, materiality is the key to uncovering the supposedly spotless reputation. Starting from the impulse to paint over older works out of shame, an
interest in transformation and superimposition
developed
. Today, I work with textiles and other materials in several stages, allowing different states to remain visible simultaneously.
The reverse sides, in particular, bear traces of past decisions.
Through my
work, I aim to convey uncomfortable themes and open up a space in which guilt, shame and ambivalence become visible as shared human experiences. The playfully cynical titles provide a counterpoint to the gravity of the themes and
create an accessible entry point.
Education2022 Degree in Fine Art
HfBK Dresden
Prof. Christian Sery, Prof. Nevin Aladağ
2022 BA in Design and Project Management
FH SWF Soest
2017 Degree in Mechanical Engineering, University of Siegen
2016
A-levels
Exhibitions
2026 Body Positivity
Hole of Fame, Dresden
2025 as if that were normal
Hole of Fame, Dresden
2025 University Art Biennial
Art Week 2025, Mallorca
2025 FEAR & ANGER
4h-art Gallery,
Hano
ver
2025 Water Isn’t Just for Washing
HfBK Dresden
2024 ROOTS, Hyle Gallery, Hamburg
2023 Heliaden – Roots & Growth
Urban-ShiDD, Dresden / NAF 2023
(solo exhibition)
2023 Nail Studio
Brühlsche Galerie, HfBK Dresden
2020 From Eva to Greta. Women on
Coins and Medals.
Bode Museum, Berlin
2018 Schrottreif Festival, Lüdenscheid
2017 Painting performance: Garden of Delights
Werdohl Awards
2021 Finalist in the 7th European Artists’ Competition
“Artists Discover
Europe”2020 7th place in the Young Artists’ Competition for
the “Three Graces” Art Medal
, Coin Cabinet, Bode Museum
,
Berlin
2020 3rd place in the Design Competition
for the logo of the Herder School, Gießen
