Gisborne artist Margaret Hansen is launching her new exhibition and a book on which it is based at Tairāwhiti Museum on Friday. Photo / Strike Photography
Gisborne artist Margaret Hansen is launching her new exhibition and a book on which it is based at Tairāwhiti Museum on Friday. Photo / Strike Photography
A new exhibition and book by Gisborne artist Margaret Hansen features paintings based on research into her two Catholic nun aunties and her musings on growing up Catholic.
The exhibition opening and book launch is being held at Tairāwhiti Museum on Friday.
The inspiration for Hansen began around a decadeago when she painted two portraits of her aunties.
Marie and Alice were Catholic nuns born in the early 20th century. They were of different orders, women among the last of their kind.
Hansen looked back and came to wonder about their lives, about who they were within and beyond their veils.
She decided to honour the family place of these “intelligent, resilient, funny women” by painting their portraits.
Hansen didn’t set out to write a book but as she started to learn more she realised their stories were “deep and complex”, and she wanted to record their history before they were forgotten.
Both nuns rose to be second-in-command of their orders - The Sisters of Compassion and The Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary.
As she learned more, she started to do more paintings to illustrate their stories.
The result is a collection of paintings that make up the Tairāwhiti exhibition and Hansen’s book titles Wimples, Crosses and Lepers: Women of Influence.
A black and white photo of Alice Slattery (Sister Elizabeth), Margaret Hansen's aunt and one of the two nuns who inspired her new exhibition and book.
In creating the portraits, decisions needed to be made about how to appropriately portray the nuns and their extraordinary lives.
Hansen’s thinking led to significant research and musing - about family history, about growing up Catholic.
She developed relationships with the archivists of each order, spoke with nuns who told treasured stories about them and researched the orders her aunties had joined.
She rediscovered family secrets, stories and her own childhood memories and questioning about what it meant to grow up Catholic.
As she painted, she wrote, stitching together their stories with her own. After 10 years of work, the exhibition and book celebrate their lives and her questions.
At the Friday book launch and exhibition opening, Hansen will speak from 5.30pm and the book will be available for purchase.
Garden of Earthly Delights is one of Margaret Hansen's paintings in her exhibition Wimples, Crosses & Lepers: Women of Influence which is opening at Tairāwhiti Museum on Friday.
Four Let Loose in Rome by Margaret Hansen is part of a new exhibition at Tairāwhiti Museum.
