Oil Painter & Muralist
Mauritius, Melbourne, In Between
Hannah Brouard is a Mauritian-born oil painter and muralist based in Melbourne, Australia. Born and raised in Mauritius, she has spent the years since 2019 in near-constant movement, living in Australia, travelling across Southeast Asia, and working as a group tour leader in Thailand before relocating to Melbourne.
Her ongoing series Under Foreign Suns draws directly from this experience, exploring how memory, identity and belonging shift through travel. Working primarily in oil with a palette knife, she builds layered, textured surfaces from photographs taken across her travels, painting not what a place looked like, but what it left behind. Her subjects are quiet and often overlooked.
Her practice is rooted in the idea that places accumulate in us long after we've left them, and that painting is a way of understanding what they meant. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting Major) from Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, where she graduated with the Award for Academic Excellence.
Born and raised in Mauritius and now based in Melbourne, my practice is rooted in movement . Across places, cultures, and emotional landscapes. In my ongoing body of work, Under Foreign Suns, I explore how memory, identity and belonging shift through travel.
Rather than focusing on where I am, my work is shaped by where I have been. The places I have moved through (whether briefly or over longer periods) have contributed to my sense of self, leaving traces that continue to surface over time. Through painting, I collect fragments of lived experience: changing light, fleeting encounters, and quiet, often overlooked moments.
While rooted in specific locations, I am drawn to the echoes that exist between them, the ways distant places can mirror one another through gesture, rhythm, and atmosphere. These similarities blur the boundaries between what is foreign and what is familiar.
My process is intuitive and reflective, supported by a consistent daily painting practice. Working primarily in oil, I use a palette knife to build layered, textured surfaces. The visible marks and accumulations of paint act as a physical reflection of memory itself: imperfect, built over time, and shaped by experience.
AWARDS, PRIZES & SCHOLARSHIPS:
2022
- Finalist, Boynes Emerging Artist Award (7th Edition)
- Finalist, Salon des Refusés, Brisbane Portrait Prize
- Award for Academic Excellence, Griffith University
2019
- Griffith Remarkable Scholarship, Griffith University
2018
- 1st Prize, International Museum Day Art Appreciation, Mauritius
2017
- Cambridge Outstanding Learner Award – Design & Technology (Best in Country), Mauritius
2016
- 3rd Prize, Sovereign Art Foundation Mauritius Student Prize
PROJECTS
2026
- 30 Days Challenge: a daily painting practice challenge, 30 works completed in 30 consecutive days
- Under Foreign Suns (ongoing): oil paintings from Rodrigues Island, Philippines, Byron Bay, Tasmania and Thailand
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
(selected)
2023:
- Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Finalist Exhibition, Paddington, Brisbane
- Reimagined Realism, Grey Street Gallery, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane
- Long Exhibition, Kaizen Gallery, Brisbane
2022
- Queensland College of Art Graduate Exhibition, QCA Galleries, Brisbane
- Salon des Refusés, Brisbane Portrait Prize, Royal Queensland Art Society, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
- Life on Life’s Term, Brisbane
2019
- Lakaz d’Art Opening Exhibition, Lakaz d’Art, Mauritius
2018
- International Museum Day Exhibition, Mauritius Museums Council, Mauritius
EDUCATION:
2022
Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting Major)
Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia – Award for Academic Excellence
PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA:
2020
- LaCase Magazine (Online Edition), pp. 46–47, May–June
2019
- “Artist of the Month”, Monthly Newsletter, May Edition
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2024–2025
— Group Tour Leader, Thailand (October 2024 – April 2025)
Leading group tours across Thailand; daily engagement with place, culture and landscape that directly informed the Under Foreign Suns series.
2023
- Volunteer, Brisbane Portrait Prize – Finalist Exhibition
2022
- Sip and paint instructor
