Melody Hansen

Choosing to risk all ease in exchange for telling your truth is central to what it means to be an artist. That process does not come without cyclic bouts of doubt and desolation, and the ones who are brave enough to take it on are the ones that can reach their hands to those who have yet to see the other side – a side that feels like lightness, love and liberation.

Melody Hansen traverses through life with a sponge-like buoyancy. She isa meticulous observer of both her outside circumstances and internal biases and beliefs. And when it comes to relaying those discoveries,

Hansen doesn’t hold back – as an illustrator, graphic designer, art director, musician and writer, she finds comfort and power in brazenly sharing her questions, confusion and anger through everything she creates. “I’ve come to realize that the only way truth can really set me free is if I face it,” she said. “I believe that for every aspect of my life, no matter how painful the truth may be – and honestly, the more painful the experience I have to face, the more exciting and liberating that truth will be.” There is a sense of extravagance that comes with speaking about growth in retrospect. Its viciousness and intensity is often either romanticized or played down. Most of the time, the conversation is avoided altogether – it is easier, safer, to stake the familiar and accept it as the only viable truth. But according to Hansen, everything we think we understand and have figured out is laughably limited by our singular worldviews.

“I was raised in a Christian home, went to Sunday School and developed my own relationship with God,” said Hansen. “I believed very easily. I was told God made me, loves me, and I’m nothing without Him. It was simple and it made sense to me. The more I talked to God, the more this became tangible. And in my conversations with God, I’d ask a lot of questions, but few times would I ask him about what I was taught in church. Being older now, I’m at a place where I’m revisiting everything that I’ve learned, trying to navigate through this mess we’ve made mixing beliefs that come from our personal fears and uncertainties and truth.” It is understandable, then, that this entirely conscientious act of turning inward and becoming more aware could cause anyone to become cynical. In the thick of it all, Hansen’s voice remains refreshingly emboldening. Her sentiments are not blindly optimistic; instead, they are resilient in the wake of trial.

“When the world is yelling nonsense at you from all directions, it takes courage to be still and say, ‘I hope,’” she said. “I know how crucial it is for me to be courageous when creating, and I want to do everything I can so that this courage and boldness can be shared with others so they, in return, can create and say, ‘I hope, too.’”

Hansen is perhaps best known for her colorful, pen-scratched and paint-swatched illustrations. Her designs can be found on album covers, apparel, and various products including books. Her own publications, Because, Honestly and Because, Honestly: A Recollection, are a series she began with the intention of inviting other voices into the conversation.

“I spent a lot of my teenage years keeping a lot to myself because I was afraid to speak up, and this series broke some of those walls. It gave me an outlet to say what I feared,” she said. “Very early on into the series, I already imagined other people being involved. As much as these illustrations were about me and my experiences, they were telling stories that others were going through.”

And while she is one of the rapidly-growing names in the illustration and design scene, Hansen’s first exposure to creating art came through music. She currently writes songs with her sister in their band, Sonagur. “My parents gave me a microphone when I was two, and since then, I’d like to believe singing and performing have been a part of me,” she said.

I've come to realize that the only way truth can really set me free is if I face it.”

“Music and art are separate projects in the sense that they require me to get in different moods for each one.” Though the execution of each medium is vastly different, both share the need for an expertise in technicality, artistry and emotional intelligence. “In both music and art, it’s my past experiences, observations, and how I feel that inspire the work. What I write – how I word my thoughts – is very crucial to what I create, whatever form it may be. It’s like each form of expression is an extension of that initial thought; everything connects in the end,” she stated.

Hansen is not shying away from breaking into even more forms of expression. Pursuing a long-time passion for acting is on her radar while she continues working towards widening her reach with everything that she is already involved in. “More music. New songs. New products. I’m hoping to have a lot more products created in the near future and more pop-ups; I love meeting people face-to-face. I want people to interact with my work, too, so to have my work exhibited is a dream of mine,” she said. “The future is very unknown but very exciting.”

The practice of recalibration, of taking a hard look at our conditions and contexts and eagerly foraging for more, is what Hansen does best. There is a duality of comfort and conviction in her art that reminds us that we are never quite done being remade. And the one surefire way to optimize it all? As one of Hansen’s illustrations states, “Be human to the fullest.”

Written by Leah Lu | Photography by Pauline Nguyen