Hilary Hanrahan graduated from the Textiles Workshop of the Australian National University School of Art in 2015 and is the recipient of the Canberra Museum and Gallery Showcase Exhibition Award for 2016, one of the Emerging Artist Support Scheme (EASS) projects at the School of Art.

In her art practice she is interested in the interaction of colour, light and space. Her vibrant installation of shredded paper spills and cascades inside the vitrine and appears suspended in space. Manipulating paper into three dimensions creates a fluid form, which, rather than simply filling a void, activates the space around it.

Cascade references the textile art of the 1960s and 1970s which was on a grand scale and emphasised materiality and strong relationships with architecture and interior space. The combination of materiality, complex surfaces, play of light and sense of movement in this work evokes the excitement of a festival or pantomime and, with the rich tones of green, the lush abundance of a tropical rainforest.