GUEST POST: Barbara Hanrahan and the art of unease

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.

In a special guest piece for the blog, Dr Judith Thomas writes about the iconic artist's knack for creating unease in her artwork.

Barbara Hanrahan’s 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].
According to my interviews with Hanrahan, this disturbing impact we feel is deliberate and designing. How sinister is The puppet-master (1985–88) 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!
How and why did Hanrahan set out to disturb her viewers and readers?

Firstly, in her own words, Hanrahan wanted ‘to push things around ... Got to do your own world’.[2] She explained that she was attracted to ‘extremes’ and felt that it was ‘healthy not to feel the same as everyone else’[3].

Secondly, Hanrahan felt that ‘Art draws people with flaws; not taken over by the big [artificial] world.’[4] Being true to the freshness and innocence of the ‘child within’ us all was paramount to her creative vision of a ‘basic world that doesn’t change-both realistic and dreamy worlds … fantasy is a part of reality’.[5] Her strongly contrasting images fill her vibrant worlds of prints[6], etchings, and novels.
Even the comforting second plate of six of Hanrahan’s beloved grandma (Iris in her garden c. 1982) whilst appearing diffused with exotic scents and flowers is haunted by menacing Charlie with his foot in the centre of Iris’s 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’s work. She described nature and the garden as where ‘you can lose yourself as a healing’.[7]
The themes, motivations and motifs of such prints have been dissected by the authors of Wakefield Press’s recent Bee-stung Lips. Whilst these are all evident in Hanrahan’s art, the concept of ‘divided selves’[8], in my opinion, underpins their inclusion and is paramount to Hanrahan’s creative imaginings in her disturbing worlds. Hanrahan’s 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 ‘enjoyed’ creating her varied forms of art despite the extensive preparations and detailed procedures involved.

On the other hand, writing her novels had to commence with a strong sense of ‘atmosphere’[1] 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 (1980) is one such example. Furthermore, it is fascinating to observe that the happiest characters emerging in the story lines as the ‘true’ and not ‘false’ artists, and writers are depicted with plain facial features.

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 (1975) (Hanrahan’s tribute to the real-life Adelaide artist[2]) successfully manages the ‘balancing act’. Furthermore, the caption on the etching reveals that ‘only Miss Barringer is safe’. In Hanrahan’s novels and art, the ‘false’ 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 (1983) and Fat folk fade faster (1985). The unreal or conflicting expectations surrounding girls and women connected with beauty, motherhood, marriage and pregnancy are all depicted with ‘satire and a strong sense of the absurd’[3]. Hanrahan described girls as heading towards these social conventions as ‘sad [and] secondary people’.[4] Innocence (1990); Flying mother (1976); Dog of Darkness (1978); Wedding night (1977), and The puppet-master (1985–88) further testify to the demands of social conventions and controls of ‘getting a hold on people’[5].

Left: 'Rock me mama' (1983) Right: 'Wedding night' (1977)

Dr Judith Thomas is an education, business and Barbara Hanrahan specialist. She has completed a doctorate on the learning experiences of refugee secondary students, taught secondary trainee teachers EALD (English as an Additional Language/ Dialect), and is a dedicated educator who is passionate about helping students achieve success regardless of ability or background. She is also a promoter of cultural awareness in businesses.

[1] Hanrahan, B. (1984, February 22), Personal interview [Interview]
[2] Ethel Barrington (1884–1925), Adelaide painter, printmaker, illustrator, enamelist, and art teacher, was instrumental in ensuring the craft of etching into the curriculum of the Adelaide School of Arts and Crafts.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[1] Thomas, J. (1984). Fantasy as Reality in the novels of Barbara Hanrahan, Master of Letters Thesis, University of New England, Australia
[2] Hanrahan, B. (1984, February 22), Personal interview [Interview]
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Brown, N., Millner, J., & Pitt, E. (2021), Bee-Stung Lips: Barbara Hanrahan, works on paper 1961–1990, Wakefield Press.
[7] Hanrahan, B. (1984, February 22), Personal interview [Interview]
[8] Dowrick, S., & Grundberg, S. (1980), Why Children, Women’s Press, p46.
Brown, N., Millner, J., & Pitt, E. (2021), Bee-Stung Lips: Barbara Hanrahan, works on paper 1961–1990,  Wakefield Press.
Bullock, N., Cole, K., Hart, D & Pitt, E. (2020). Know My Name. National Gallery of Australia.
Callaway, A. (1995). Ethel Barringer Biography, Design & Art Australia Online. Retrieved September 28 online
Carroll, A. (1986). Barbara Hanrahan, Printmaker, Wakefield Press
Hanrahan, B. (1984, February 22), Personal interview [Interview]
Dowrick, S., & Grundberg, S. (1980), Why Children, Women’s Press
Lindsay, E. (1998). The diaries of Barbara Hanrahan, University of Queensland Press.
Steele, J (2021). Reflections on the art and life of Barbara Hanrahan with Jo Steele 
Stewart, A. (2010). Barbara Hanrahan, A Biography, Wakefield Press
Thomas, J. (1984). Fantasy as Reality in the novels of Barbara Hanrahan, Master of Letters Thesis, University of New England, Australia
Zagala, M. (2007). The Divided Self: the Prints of Barbara Hanrahan, Art Gallery of South Australia