Tanja Hester

Tanja Hester is a multidisciplinary activist, artist and author based in North Lake Tahoe, California. In her visual art, she creates large-scale, color-shifted works in oil, acrylic, pastel and mixed media that address broad societal injustices through a personal lens. Inspired by the immunodeficiency she was born with and the degenerative joint disease that has become a disability, Tanja’s work gives viewers a glimpse into a world isolated by necessity, where reality and the fantastical often merge. Her recent work exposes aspects of disability and chronic illness that many viewers are unlikely to have considered, explores her distorted reality that grew out of COVID-19 era isolation, and depicts scenes of beauty within the horror of climate change. For example, in her “Unfinished” series, Tanja references typical unfinished portraits, but rather than finish the head and little else, as art viewers are accustomed to seeing, her self-portraits are complete only in the areas she can reach while laying or sitting on the floor, reflecting her limited energy and painting ability during periods of high pain and fatigue. The series is a conceptual look at what we collectively miss out on when we do not support disabled people and their desire to contribute meaningfully to society and our cultural life. In addition to her studio practice, Tanja also writes extensively about social and environmental justice, and is the author of two books, most recently Wallet Activism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn and Save as a Force for Change (2021, BenBella Books), winner of the Nautilus Awards gold medal for best social change and social justice book. For her dedication to activism, in 2023 Tanja was named alongside luminaries like Lil Nas X and US Senator Elizabeth Warren as a Changemaker by Money Magazine, one of fifty people changing the global financial system to make it more just and equitable. In her past life, Tanja was a consultant to Democratic politics. She earned a BA in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and cobbled together a DIY studio art education from a range of California community colleges.