BIO
Hanabi Blackmoor is a contemporary figurative oil painter born in 1999 in Edinburgh, Scotland, residing and working primarily in Tokyo, Japan, and Osnabrück, Germany. In her paintings, Blackmoor portrays unsettling still life as she rejects pure naturalism in favour of creating quiet, lonely, and captured icons. Awkward yet poster-esque poses starkly pasted into dark backgrounds feature prominentely throughout her work.
For Blackmoor, originality is not an act of invention but a confrontation with recurrence. Working from the conviction that nothing is truly new, they regard contemporary experience as inseparable from the accumulated weight of social history, inherited narratives, and collective memory. Their practice begins with the understanding that every expression of the present is embedded within a continuum that long predates individual participation. In this sense, they position themselves as both participant and host to history—an ongoing force that inhabits and shapes perception, thought, and cultural production.
Through oil painting, Blackmoor seeks to create ostensibly “new” works from subjects and expressions that are fundamentally non-new. Acts of preserving, and capturing therefore become central to the practice. These gestures function as forms of self-recognition and self-assertion. While history may unfold through recurring patterns and seemingly deterministic processes, its continued existence depends upon present participation and perception. By materialising the conditions of recurrence, of reformulated icons, the work underscores a fundamental tension: that even within systems larger than ourselves, the fabric of social history remains contingent upon individuals who perceive, embody, and reproduce it. The artist’s practice inhabits this space between inevitability and agency, revealing how the persistence of the past relies upon our continual, and often unwitting, involvement in the present.
Blackmoor studied at the University of St Andrews and the University of Tokyo. During her studies at the former, she has been awarded the Dean’ List for two consecutive years, and had her Masters’ dissertation commended during her time at the latter. Recent shows have been held at Galerie K. in Leipzig, Germany (2026), White Space Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland (2026), and Numero 51 Gallery in Milan, Italy (2025).
CV
Born in 1999 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Resides and works between Osnabrück, Germany, and Tokyo, Japan.
EDUCATION
2022-2024: Master of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Japan
2018-2022: Master of Arts in International Relations (Honours), University of St Andrews, Scotland
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026, Fold., Galerie K., Leipzig, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026, Dem Dröhnen Die Stille, Kunstverein Melle, Melle, Germany
2026, Collective Voices, White Space Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
2026, Rebellion und Liebe, Alte Posthalterei, Melle, Germany
2025, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Numero 51 Gallery, Milan, Italy
2024, 第75回絵画展, Bunkyo Civic Centre, Tokyo, Japan
2022, Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
2022, Samsāra, Sitara Fashion Show, St Andrews, Scotland
ART FAIRS
2022, Surgical Art, University of St Andrews School of Medicine, St Andrews, Scotland
2021, On The Pebbles, St Andrews Heritage Museum & Garden, St Andrews, Scotland
AWARDS
2022, Dean’s List Award, University of St Andrews, Scotland
2021, Dean’s List Award, University of St Andrews, Scotland
SELECTED PRESS
“Confronting Climate (Im)Mobilities: A Creative Anthology on Climate Mobility,” Global Centre for Climate Mobility (2026).
“Issue 02” in Somersault Magazine (2026).
“Issue 8: Games and Community” in Pinky Magazine (2025).
“AI Policy and Ideological Polarisation in Art Ownership” in The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Public Policy (2024) at [https://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/research/research-outputs/research-outputs-of-students/] consulted on 31 May, 2026.
“Utility and Beauty: The Strange Bedfellows of Novel Indulgence” in The St Andrews Economist (2022) at [https://standrewseconomist.com/2021/11/24/utility-and-beauty-the-strange-bedfellows-of-novel-indulgence/] consulted on 31 May, 2026.
Album Cover, METRO NEUM (2021).
“The Green Fig Tree” in Pilot Magazine (2020) at [https://pilotmagazine.uk/article/the-green-fig-tree] consulted on 31 May, 2026.
Album Cover, Projekt Records (2020).
PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
2026: Judge for Visual Arts, Global Centre for Climate Mobility, Germany.
2024-2025: Creative Strategist, Droga 5 Tokyo, Japan.
2023-2024: Teaching Assistant for Strategic Communications, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
2022-2023: Research Intern, International House of Japan, Tokyo, Japan.
2020-2021: Design and Photography Project Manager, University of St Andrews Students Association, Scotland.
2019-2020: Art Coordinator, On the Rocks, St Andrews, Scotland.
2016-2018: Art Teacher, Global Kids Place, Tokyo, Japan.
2016: Art Teacher, United World Schools, Dor, Cambodia.