Barbara Hanrahan Born in 1939 and died in 1991 in Adelaide, South Australia. In 1960 Hanrahan commenced studies at the South Australian School of Art under Sellbac. Sellbac introduced printmaking to the art school in Adelaide in that year and Barbara Hanrahan was one of the first students to enroll in the course. Hanrahan recalls the importance of printmaking and was quoted in Alice Caroll’s, ‘Barbara Hanrahan: A self portrait’, (imprint 1978 no 3) as saying, ‘Printmaking soon became the most important thing in my life’. The strange mix of naïve and fantasy characterises Hanrahan’s prints. Her work has an intimacy, which draws the viewer increasingly into a macabre world, which Hanrahan creates. The intimacy is created through the use of decorative elements such as textured rugs and cloth, which give the viewer the impression that they are looking into a domestic scene. A familiar scene, which on closer inspection, is strange, haunting and fraught with danger. Sellbac described Hanrahan as ‘fairy like and vulnerable’. In 1963 she travelled to London. The trip was to become one of many. In London she worked at the central school and was influenced by the works of Gertude Hermes and the early pop art of Hockney and Peter Blake. In the mid sixties Hanrahan produced a series of works which explored the nature of her parents relationship. The series titled ‘Bob and Ronda’ explored the bond between her parents, a bond that she had not witnessed as her father had died when she was one. Barbara was their only child and was reared by her mother, who worked as a commercial artist. Dr Sasha Grishin in his book, ‘Contemporary Australian Printmaking’, says of Hanrahan’s work that it ‘presents a strange and unique blend of the decorative ornateness of the wood-engraver illustrator, and the defiant explicit sexuality informed by feminism and a commentary on pop culture’. Many of Hanrahans images play with themes from popular culture especially pop songs. Her works have a strong narrative and often combine images of frivolity with a note of fear, pain and insecurity. Hanrahan wrote fifteen novels. In reference to her novels, Grishin states that, ‘she enjoys creating levels of meaning and veils of ambiguity’. This statement is also true of her artwork.