Art & Human-Nature Connections

Writing

I have loved reading and writing for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I read R.L. Stine’s Fear Street and Goosebumps, and wrote my first short story titled Green Eyes in fifth grade. Nowadays, I hold a PhD degree in the Humanities and am the proud author of my doctoral thesis on climate-related art, which I printed in book format and with my own artwork as cover. I received the ‘Best PhD Thesis Award 2024‘ and a prize money as part of the “Graduate School Awards for PhD Excellence” of Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities. I have also written a children’s book (published in 2025), Zine contributions and academic papers (published since 2020), one poem and the scripts for my video essays. I am currently working on a creative non-fiction piece. Writing is a craft and there is always more to learn. I have taken courses on academic and creative writing, such as “English Academic Writing” and “How to get your article published” at Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities.

Among all the things that I am doing writing is perhaps the biggest red thread that is running through my life for the past ten years. Here is a list of my writing projects, published and unpublished:

BOOKS

  • Children’s book: Hahn, U. (2025). Oskar, der kleine Kloß – Oskar schaut über den Tellerrand. Hütes Verlag.
  • Creative non-fiction: This is my my current writing project. In 2014, I started to write down notes about my time living abroad in France. More information in 2026.
  • Photography book: Hahn, U. (2017). Trouver la Liberté – Updated version in the making.

ZINE CONTRIBUTIONS

Contributions to published Zines on the intersection between art, imagination and the climate crisis that feature my artistic work:

  • van Beek, L. et al. (2025). TWIG – The What If Garden – A Field Guide to Radical Imagination [Zine]. Lorentz Center. https://doi.org/10.17613/jn9xc-9gh16
  • Laparle, S. et al. (2025).  Climate Hope: Growing Better Worlds. ISBN: 978-90-9040872-9 [Zine]

PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

Published interviews and articles about my research comics project:

Published art-based research and academic writing on visual art and climate change:

  • Hahn, U. (2025). A Close Reading of Climate-Related Art: Aesthetics and Creative Engagement with the Structural Causes of the Climate Crisis. In: Binns, D., Najdowski, R. (eds) Confronting the Climate Crisis. Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-89606-4_6
  • Hahn, U., & Berkers, P. (2025). Artists on Climate Change: Their Intended Impact and Audiences. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 43(1), 188-208.
  • Brandellero, A., Loots, E., Schueler, J., van den Brink, E., Dijkhuizen, E., Schaap Enterman, J., Bomers, I., Buizer, B., Hahn, U. & Amador Valdez, J. (2023). Parading through a Circular Area Development with Arts and Sciences. DYSFUNCTION. Critics, ethics and challenges in Art-Based Research dissemination, 8-9, 13-14
  • Hahn, U. & Vermeylen F. (2023). Mirror or Hammer? News Media Coverage of Climate-Related Art. Environmental Communication.
  • Hahn, U. (2022). Artistic Imaginations of Climate Change: From the Far Away to the Here and Now. Environmental Justice, (20221202).
  • Hahn, U., & Berkers, P. (2020). Visualizing Climate Change: An Exploratory Study of the Effectiveness of Artistic Information Visualizations. World Art, 11(1), 95-119.

Theses

  • Hahn, U. (2025). Imag(in)ing the climate crisis: The visual arts to the rescue? [Doctoral Thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam]. This thesis was the winner of the “Best PhD Thesis 2024” award and prize money as part of the “Graduate School Awards for PhD Excellence” of Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities                
  • Hahn, U. (2018). The Art of Circular Economy: Participatory Art for Sensemaking and Planning of the Circular Economy Community [Master thesis]. This thesis was finalist in the “Rotterdam Thesis Award” 2019.
  • Hahn, U. (2017). (Artistic Information) Visualizations and Climate Change [Master thesis]

BLOG

Writing about human-nature relations and art (blog): See here

VIDEO ESSSAY SCRIPTS

Writing scripts for the video essays about the life of artist Daniel Schinasi

In the summer of 2014 I started a creative collaboration with artist Daniel Schinasi. He created art to document society and to advocate for a better world. I soon realised that it was his personal and professional path that also needed documentation: He had to flee his country of birth due to political turmoil, and never lost sight of his passion for art and his desire for positive social change. In the short film “L’Exode d’un Juif Italien d’Alexandrie” Daniel Schinasi and I are tracing his moving life, from the moment he had to leave Alexandria to when he set up his first art studio to his major exhibitions. More information here

POEMS

• Hahn, U. (2015): Le vieil artiste au cœur jeune