
MAGAZINE FEATURE
Capturing Stubborn Joy
Capturing Stubborn Joy
YNST Magazine | November 2025
Written by Gillian Cappadona
Photography by Maranie Rae Staab
How Artist Hanna du Plessis Celebrates Life While Dying
YNST Magazine dedicated a feature spread to Hanna’s story—not as tragedy but as testament. “Capturing Stubborn” documents how an artist continues creating, a writer continues writing, a teacher continues teaching even as ALS takes mobility, voice, independence.
The article, written by Gillian Cappadona and featuring photography by Maranie Staab, explores what it means to celebrate life while dying. The images show care in action: hands holding, bodies supporting, community showing up. Hanna in costume for a parade. Hanna laughing. Hanna being held. The visual story refuses to sanitize or sentimentalize—it shows the whole truth.
Through an artful marriage of Maranie’s images with Hanna’s words, the article carries the theme of “stubborn joy:” this isn’t about dying. It’s about living fully in whatever time remains.