Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery secures iconic Barnara Hanrahan exhibition opening next month

A huge coup for the Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery, securing the Flinders University Museum of Art and Country Arts SA Bee-stung Lips Barbara Hanrahan works on paper 1960-1991.

In 2021, 30 years after the death of one of South Australia’s brightest creative lights, when Barbara Hanrahan lost her battle with cancer, 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.

Now, a new iteration of the project designed to tour regional South Australia, will be on show at Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery from June 2 to July 16.

Bee-stung lips: Barbara Hanrahan works on paper 1960-1991 comprises 74 works that showcase the artist’s genius as a printmaker and 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, screenprints, 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; and 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 said the works were testament to the artist’s mastery of technique and her bold, decorative, and uncompromising visual language.

“Hanrahan’s oeuvre 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,Ms Brown said.

“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.”

The exhibition, drawn from private collections and 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 said.

The exhibition is touring regional South Australia with the support of Country Arts SA to galleries and will return to the region from September 8 to November 19 at The Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre.

FUMA Director Fiona Salmon was 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.

Country Arts SA chief executive/executive director Anthony Peluso said Bee-stung Lips was 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.”