HANA KANEE
Hana Kanee is a freelance illustrator based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who specializes in editorial illustration.
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CREATIVE STATEMENT
I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, and my practice has grown from traditional painting and drawing into a combination of physical and digital techniques. With a background in biology and
genetics, I’m especially interested in the intersections between nature, culture, storytelling, and imagination.
My work is surreal and narrative-driven, often bringing together figures, animals, landscapes, and unexpected visual relationships. Middle Eastern culture and mythology are recurring influences, alongside contemporary life, science, identity, transformation, and
speculative ideas.
What draws me to editorial illustration is the challenge of taking an idea and finding an unexpected visual way into it. I love images that don’t simply depict what a story says, but add another layer to it; something strange, symbolic, humorous, or thought-provoking.
I’m particularly interested in illustrating stories around culture, society, science, nature, identity, and the future, while bringing my own Middle Eastern surrealist visual language to them.
Q&A
Which publication does a great job at using illustrations?
Ithraeyat. I love how each issue is built around a theme and how artists are given space to interpret those ideas visually. The covers especially feel like artworks in their own right rather than decoration, which is the kind of editorial illustration I’m drawn to.
What topic do you enjoy illustrating about?
I’m drawn to subjects where culture, nature, mythology, science, and contemporary life overlap. I especially love ideas that give me room to create something slightly strange or unexpected, where the illustration can become its own little world rather than simply
explaining the text.
What magazine cover do you want your illustration to be on?
The New Yorker for sure. I’d love to be given a theme and interpret it through my own surreal visual language, particularly one that lets me play with culture, nature, mythology, or contemporary life.
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