Exhibition with Bite

30 years after the untimely extinguishing of one of South Australia’s brightest creative lights, a significant exhibition curated by the Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) paid homage to the extraordinary life and work of uncompromising artist Barbara Hanrahan in 2021. Now, a new iteration of the project designed to tour regional South Australia, will be on show at Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery from 31 March to 21 May.

Bee-stung lips: Barbara Hanrahan works on paper 1960-1991 comprises 74 works that showcase the artist’s genius as a printmaker and the vibrant contribution she made to the art world through her distinctive practice.

Abundant, profound and unbound, Hanrahan’s exploration of gender, social structures and spirituality is reflected in a legacy of more than 400 works and 15 books which were seminal in challenging the conservative norms of her day.

The exhibition includes woodcuts, linocuts, screen prints, lithographs, etchings, and dry points and considers several overarching themes which Hanrahan focused on throughout her career: sex, beauty and the stage; domestic comforts and anxieties; becoming plant, becoming animal; celestial bodies and the afterlife.

The exhibition is further illuminated by an extensively illustrated catalogue of the same name featuring many artworks which are published for the first time as well as scholarly essays that examine Hanrahan’s personal concerns as they intersect with broader cultural and social issues.

Exhibition curator Nic Brown says the works are testament to the artist’s mastery of technique and her bold, decorative and uncompromising visual language.

“Hanrahan’s ouevre embraces humanness and its messy world of social constructs and expectations in relationship with nature and the cosmos, which are always the centre point of her personal yet universally accessible stage.”

“Mystical and earthly realms, and temporal paradigms collide and collude in Hanrahan’s inspired and inventive visual practice. She connects sexuality and desire with dreaming and spirituality and bridges the farthest star billions of light years away to the humblest garden bee, to make works that speak of mortality and the fragility of existence” Ms Brown says.

The exhibition, drawn from private collections and Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) holdings, was enabled by the generous assistance of Hanrahan’s closest circle.

“The project would not have been possible without the unstinting support of Barbara Hanrahan’s partner Jo Steele and longstanding gallerist Susan Sideris who provided unfettered access to the artist’s work, shared important insights and provided many loans,” Ms Brown adds.

The exhibition is touring regional South Australia with the support of Country Arts SAto galleries in Port Lincoln, Murray Bridge, Port Pirie, Naracoorte, Mount Gambier and Goolwa.

FUMA Director Fiona Salmon is delighted to see the life of the exhibition extended in this way.

“This is a significant opportunity to take Hanrahan’s distinct and important voice further afield, to introduce new audiences to a remarkable Australian artist whose works hold as much bite today as when they were first produced” she said.

Chief Executive / Executive Director Country Arts SA, Anthony Peluso says:

“Bee-stung Lips is a dazzling snapshot of Hanrahan’s brilliant and prolific 30-year career.  Enjoy her colourful and abundant world at six regional galleries, where some of her works have long been a part of local collections.”

Background

Barbara Janice Hanrahan (1939 – 1991) lived between Adelaide, London, and Melbourne, developing a prolific career as an artist and writer, producing more than 400 works on paper, and publishing 15 books before her career was tragically cut short by cancer at the age of 52.

The exhibition catalogue, made possible through the support of the Gordon Darling Foundation, was published by Wakefield Press and includes essays by Nic Brown (Collections Curator, Flinders University Museum of Art), Dr Jacqueline Millner (Associate Professor, Visual Arts, La Trobe University, Melbourne) and Elspeth Pitt (Curator, Australian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra).

Media contacts

Fiona Salmon, FUMA Director

E: fiona.salmon@flinders.edu.au
T: 08 8201 2531 M: 0404 349 961

Karen Ashford, Director of Media and Communications Flinders University

E: karen.ashford@flinders.edu.au
T: 08 8201 2092 M: 0427 398 713

Media images and captions

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ut9fzapmnp24c4v/AAD6BZRcp1fq1vri0yIR_Y05a?dl=0

Image: Barbara Hanrahan, Dog of darkness (detail), 1978, hand-coloured etching with plate-tone, colour inks on paper, 35.5 x 25.3 cm, Private collection, Adelaide, © the Estate of the artist, courtesy Susan Sideris 2020