Lys Hansen was born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1936. She studied painting and fine art at Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh, completing her postgraduate studies before going on to do teacher training at Moray House.
Her career took off in the 1980's during which time she was active in promoting women’s art in Scotland, speaking at the Women’s Art Conference, Glasgow in 1984 and was part of a key BBC 2 documentary, The Lunch Party.
Lys has since had major solo exhibitions in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Austria and France as well as being in public collections in the UK, Germany and Denmark.
This exhibition brings together paintings and objects, giving a glimpse into the diverse sides of Hansen’s practice and her various methods and approaches to making work.
Her work oscillates between joy and tragedy, capturing the human condition, both internal and external. It stems directly from her lived experience and intimate narratives – that of inner turmoil, birthing, sex, and family life - which the exhibition in the upper gallery focuses on. In the lower gallery, these same processes reflect on politics and global tragedy through her own experiences of the impact of war and dislocation.
