Published work
tears of gold
This debut art book by Hannah Rose Thomas presents her portrait paintings of Yazidi women who escaped ISIS captivity, Rohingya women who fled violence in Myanmar, and Nigerian women who survived Boko Haram violence, alongside their own words, stories, and self-portraits. These portraits, depicting women from three continents and three religions, are a visual testimony not only of war and injustice but also of humanity and resilience.
Attending to the stories of displaced women: A portrait painter’s perspective. PhD THESIS.
This thesis traces the ethical and conceptual connections between Simone Weil’s account of attention and Hannah’s artistic practice of attention through portrait paintings of displaced women. Alongside Simone Weil, Hannah draws upon Adriana Cavarero’s concept of inclination and narratability and Luce Irigaray’s luminous writings on the phenomenology of art, silence, listening and prayer.
University of Glasgow, 2025.
Other academic articles
“Seeing God Through Portrait Paintings of Displaced Women: An Aesthetics of Hospitality,” in Holman Hunt and the Light of the World in Oxford, edited by Markus Brockmuehl. Routledge 2024.
“The Alchemy of Grief: An Iconography of Attention and Love,” in Languaging Gratitudes and Griefs in a More-than-Human World: Restorative Intercultural Practices, edited by Professor Alison Phipps. Multilingual Matters 2025 (forthcoming).