Nicole Mackinlay Hahn

Nicole Mackinlay Hahn takes a “fly on the wall” approach that brings the voice and humanity of her subjects into sharper focus. Her work is imbued with the most basic elements of social consciousness – it provides true transparency rather than dramatic commentary. Her artist cause is one of connecting people to the things that unite them. Every step of the way, her art has been an act of shared experience.

From 1996 – 2005, Nicole lived and worked in the Bay Area, California. Her first documentary feature film, HARDIHOOD, promoting the female athletic spirit, is distributed by First Run Features. Nicole’s interest in capturing the fierce spirit of physical challenge and endurance, led to her producing the ESPN X Games for two seasons and a US Postal Team commercial for the Tour De France.

The sense of mission and communion evident in this work, brought collaborations on multiple films with Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bar & Co. In 2005, Nicole was recruited by Bono and Ali Hewson to create films for the launch of their Edun Apparel Brand (2005 - 2007) Since her first trip to Lesotho Africa, Nicole has built partnerships which have led to philanthropic video collaborations with several global organizations, including Product (RED), EarthPledge, The Global Fund, and The ONE Campaign. Nicole’s experience and manner of approach in documenting programs and people in the developing world, have established her as a premier director of pro-social films for high-profile members of the art, design, and entertainment communities.

Donna Karan, Christy Turlington, and Bobby Shriver, among others, have tapped Nicole’s creative spirit to engage the public interest.

Nicole spent three years, seven trips to Africa, gathering material in nine different countries for a multimedia project on the continent’s—and its peoples—role in the garment industry. REAP WHAT YOU SEW® Mirror/Africa launched in BARNEYS New York in 2008, as an interactive public art installation. Nicole was curious to see if she could emotionally connect the consumer to the supply chain of clothing manufacturing in Africa. Mirror/Africa has exhibited in London and New York, and is growing into a service that provides video reflections about your food, shelter and clothing. She believes there is great heart and soul behind much of the fashion design value chain, and wants to reveal that to the purchaser. The goal of REAP WHAT YOU SEW is to make evident the poetry behind the purchase.

As an artist and documentarian, Nicole absorbs the intimate realities, relationships, and experiences of the people with whom she works, finding a natural beauty unique to her style of approach. Nicole believes that when mutual trust is built, the truths and possibilities are endless. Regardless of the medium, these revelations come through in the curiosity, honesty, interactivity, and generosity of Nicole’s artistic work.

As a visual/multimedia artist, Nicole’s artwork as been exhibited internationally. She was a guest artist at the London based LAZARIDES Gallery “Grow Up” exhibit, where she had 2 pieces on view. May-June 2009. Nicole’s footage has been licensed to television for Oprah, The Today Show, Sundance, MTV, CNN, Voom, ESPN, Kenya and Ghana TV. She received her BFA from the School of Art and Design at Alfred University concentrating in Print Media, Video Arts, and is the recipient of the Vinal Haven Press and Kala Fellowships. Nicole resides in Harlem, New York City.