{"id":4497,"date":"2021-10-01T09:04:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T22:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=4497"},"modified":"2021-09-30T14:09:10","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T03:39:10","slug":"guest-post-barbara-hanrahan-art-unease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2021\/10\/guest-post-barbara-hanrahan-art-unease\/","title":{"rendered":"GUEST POST: Barbara Hanrahan and the art of unease"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbara<\/a><\/h1>\n

Barbara Hanrahan was one of Australia’s most distinctive artists. Characterised by playfully complex narratives that draw on both personal experience and fantasy, her works are fearlessly direct and unashamedly decorative.<\/h1>\n

In a special guest piece for the blog, Dr Judith Thomas\u00a0writes about the iconic artist’s knack for creating unease in her artwork.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Barbara Hanrahan\u2019s prints and novels both unsettle and shock her viewers and her readers. Luckily for me I was extremely privileged to visit her home; ask questions for research on her novels and prints and record the interviews for my M. Litt. (UNE) thesis in 1984[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Barbara<\/a>According to my interviews with Hanrahan, this disturbing impact we feel is deliberate and designing. How sinister is The puppet-master <\/em>(1985\u201388) print with armless and bodyless dolls now further immortalised by the Barbara Hanrahan Community Tapestry Project 1993 coordinated by Kay Lawrence for the UniSA West Campus!<\/p>\n

How and why did Hanrahan set out to disturb her viewers and readers?<\/p>\n

\n

Firstly, in her own words, Hanrahan wanted \u2018to push things around … Got to do your own world\u2019.[2]<\/a> She explained that she was attracted to \u2018extremes\u2019 and felt that it was \u2018healthy not to feel the same as everyone else\u2019[3]<\/a>.<\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Secondly, Hanrahan felt that \u2018Art draws people with flaws; not taken over by the big [artificial] world.\u2019[4]<\/a> Being true to the freshness and innocence of the \u2018child within\u2019 us all was paramount to her creative vision of a \u2018basic world that doesn\u2019t change-both realistic and dreamy worlds \u2026 fantasy is a part of reality\u2019.[5]<\/a> Her strongly contrasting images fill her vibrant worlds of prints[6]<\/a>, etchings, and novels.<\/p>\n

\"Barbara<\/a>Even the comforting second plate of six of Hanrahan\u2019s beloved grandma (Iris in her garden<\/em> c. 1982) whilst appearing diffused with exotic scents and flowers is haunted by menacing Charlie <\/em>with his foot in the centre of Iris\u2019s head. The magic of the garden is a recurring image and symbol of fertility, paradise (of her precious childhood growing up in Thebarton, South Australia) and the spiritual world in Hanrahan\u2019s work. She described nature and the garden as where \u2018you can lose yourself as a healing\u2019.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

The themes, motivations and motifs of such prints have been dissected by the authors of Wakefield Press\u2019s recent Bee-stung Lips<\/a>. <\/em>Whilst these are all evident in Hanrahan\u2019s art, the concept of \u2018divided selves\u2019[8]<\/a>, in my opinion, underpins their inclusion and is paramount to Hanrahan\u2019s creative imaginings in her disturbing worlds. Hanrahan\u2019s novels take these visual landscapes further into the realm of the narrative seen through the eyes of the child. She explained to me that she \u2018enjoyed\u2019 creating her varied forms of art despite the extensive preparations and detailed procedures involved.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, writing her novels had to commence with a strong sense of \u2018atmosphere\u2019[1]<\/a> coupled with the sensory details of memory and workings of the mind to establish a firm realistic sense of time and place for her distinctive characters to take life with carefully chosen names, facial features, and eccentricities. Doll Strawbridge in the novel The Frangipani Gardens <\/em>(1980) is one such example. Furthermore, it is fascinating to observe that the happiest characters emerging in the story lines as the \u2018true\u2019 and not \u2018false\u2019 artists, and writers are depicted with plain facial features.<\/h1>\n

\"Barbara<\/a>Amid the hurly-burly world of art with all its vipers and conflicting social pressures, especially for female artists attempting true creative inquiry and not imitation, the Dear Miss Ethel Barringer<\/em>\u00a0(1975) (Hanrahan\u2019s tribute to the real-life Adelaide artist[2]<\/a>) successfully manages the \u2018balancing act\u2019. Furthermore, the caption on the etching reveals that \u2018only Miss Barringer is safe\u2019. In Hanrahan\u2019s novels and art, the \u2018false\u2019 artists get caught up with the artificial merry-go-round of life including advertising, which is repeatedly pictured in such etchings and prints as Rock me mama <\/em>(1983) and Fat folk fade faster <\/em>(1985). The unreal or conflicting expectations surrounding girls and women connected with beauty, motherhood, marriage and pregnancy are all depicted with \u2018satire and a strong sense of the absurd\u2019[3]<\/a>. Hanrahan described girls as heading towards these social conventions as \u2018sad [and] secondary people\u2019.[4]<\/a> Innocence<\/em>\u00a0(1990); Flying mother<\/em>\u00a0(1976); Dog of Darkness<\/em>\u00a0(1978); Wedding night<\/em>\u00a0(1977), and The puppet-master <\/em>(1985\u201388) further testify to the demands of social conventions and controls of \u2018getting a hold on people\u2019[5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t