MOLLY HANKINSON
Molly Hankinson is a UK-based artist working between Glasgow and London, whose practice centres around visibility, empowerment, and storytelling through colour and line. Best known for her emotionally resonant portraits and powerful depictions of safe spaces, Molly’s work explores what it means to exist confidently and communally particularly as a woman or marginalised person in a world that doesn’t always make space for either.
Molly’s art interrogates and celebrates the notion of safety, both physical and emotional. Her compositions are intimate yet defiant, honouring the people and spaces that hold us, shape us, and allow us to breathe. Whether on a mural wall or a gallery canvas, her work serves as a site of resistance and affirmation, rich with collective gendered experience, shared empathy, and unapologetic presence.
At the heart of her visual language is a distinctive aesthetic: bold colour blocking, flowing line work, and a graphic clarity that immediately draws the viewer in. These elements are not just decorative they’re emotional signifiers. Her palette is bright, but never chaotic; considered and layered, evoking comfort, solidarity, and radical softness. Molly's signature use of continuous line mirrors the idea of uninterrupted identity fluid, connected, and ongoing.
Her practice spans a broad range of mediums, including large-scale murals, painting, printmaking, hand-drawn and digital illustration. This versatility allows her to meet her audiences in a variety of contexts from gallery walls to street corners to community spaces, each project shaped by its environment and intended audience. Whether working independently or through collaboration, Molly’s work is people-first: rooted in lived experience and driven by connection.
Her portfolio reflects this ethos. She has worked with brands and organisations that align with her values, including The Body Shop, Lucozade, Sky Arts, Fritz Kola, Scottish FA, and FA. Alongside commercial partnerships, she is deeply committed to working with grassroots and activist-led initiatives. Her collaborations with charities such as Coppafeel! and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects speak to her ongoing dedication to championing underrepresented voices and using visual storytelling as a tool for advocacy.
Molly’s work doesn’t shy away from complexity, it leans into it, transforming it into colour, warmth, and power. Her illustrations often feature women and queer people in moments of rest, pride, protest, or play. In doing so, she not only reflects real lives, but also imagines better, braver futures.
As both an artist and an advocate, Molly Hankinson’s practice is an act of care. Through every brushstroke and line, she reclaims space for joy, for honesty, and for collective strength. In a world too often defined by interruption and erasure, her work offers a soft but unshakeable presence. One that says, you are seen, you are held, and you belong here.
Installation as part of Moniker Art House
