Hannah Beehre: Mures, et Terram

In 2010–2011, Rūamoko, the atua (god) of volcanoes and earthquakes, kicked and stirred in the belly of Papatūānuku, the earth mother, under Ōtautahi Christchurch. The city crumbled, and the swamp came back to the surface. We are still recovering. The seven panels of local artist Hannah Beehre’s Mures, et Terram -  Mice, and the Earth -  were created in response to her lived experience of this time. 

Animals are often used as allegory for human experiences - removed subjects that allow us to examine our behaviours or responses to events. Hannah’s mice, lizards, and frogs tumble in the darkness of a tumultuous inky background, the free flowing application of which determines and unifies composition. They have emerged, as we have, shaken from the experience, diminutive and fragile, comforting each other as the scale of events dwarf and overwhelm them.

A series of new drawings accompany Mures, et Terram. This time, Hannah’s lens of experience has expanded, responding to global politics as the Rattenkönig appears from the darkness. The Rat King is a repulsive phenomenon; a wheel of rats, their tails inextricably intertwined and forced to survive as a collective.  Different groups vie for power, emerging from the depths of loose brush strokes. The works incite introspection and consideration of the state of things. 

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I te ngā tau 2010–2011, ka mahi nanakia a Rūaumoko te atua o ngā rū i te kōpū o Papatūānuku, i Ōtautahi nei.  I tanuku ngā whare me te reporepo haere o whenua o te tāone. Kāore anō kia tau te mauri mai i taua wā. Ko ngā paewhiri nā Hannah Beehre ko Mures, et Terram- He Kīore me Papatūānuku, i hanga e ia hei whakamārama i ōnā wheako tūturu i taua wā.

Ka whakatairite ngā karaehe ki ngā tāngata-ka whakawehe ngā kaupapa i ngā tāngata kia aronui ki ō mātou whanonga me te whakautu ki ēnei āhuatanga. Nā Hannah ngā kīore, ngā mokomoko me ngā poraka i tā kia kite i ngā mahi turupeke o ēnei kararehe i te taiao pōuri me te taiao whakamōti, hei honotanga mō tēnei mahi auaha ohia.

Kua puta mai i tēnei pāmamaetanga ōrite ki ngā tāngata, kua patua te wairua, ka āwhina ngā tāngata i a rātou anō,  ahakoa ngā aitūa, ngā mōrearea.

He mahi tā pikitia hōu hoki e whakaatu tahi ana ki Mures, et Terram. I tēnei raupapa pikitia kua whakawhānuihia te tirohanga hei whakautu ki ngā mahi tōrangapū o te ao i te putanga o Rattenkönig mai i te pōuri.  Ko Rattenkönig he āhuatanga mōrikarika; he hononga kīore ōrite ki te wīra, kua honoa ngā whiore me te oranga o te katoa kua herea pēnei. Ka puta ngā rōpū rerekē, whakataetae mana i ēnei peita paraehe. Ka tīrohia te tangata ki a ia anō me te āhuatanga o tōna oranga.