Whanganui artist Graham Hall with the print from his Stations of the Cross series that will be on show in Armenia. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui artist Graham Hall with the print from his Stations of the Cross series that will be on show in Armenia. Photo / Bevan Conley
Modern-day depictions of Christ’s last hours on earth are nothing new; however, Graham Hall is probably the first artist to set the Stations of the Cross against Whanganui backgrounds and portray himself as the central figure.
Hall’s exhibition of 14 woodblock prints opened at Space Studio & Gallery in timefor Easter on April 5 and will be showing until April 29.
Gallery owner Sarah Narine said the exhibition had attracted a lot of curiosity from visitors.
“In this digital age of short attention spans, people have been spending a lot of time looking at this exhibition and asking a lot of questions,” she said.
“Graham will be giving a floor talk on the exhibition this Saturday so people who still have questions can come back and those who haven’t seen it yet can come along at 11am and find out first hand.”
Number 12 in the series Jesus is Stripped of His Garments contains reference to a film by Peter Greenaway. Photo / Supplied
Hall said the idea of depicting the Stations of the Cross had been with him for a long time and he had been affected by the images he first saw as a child attending a Catholic school in Auckland.
“I visited Via Dolorosa, The Way of Sorrows in Jerusalem in 1980 and it made quite an impression on me,” Hall said.
“It represents the path that Jesus would have taken to his crucifixion as depicted by the Franciscans after they were granted custody of Christian sites in Jerusalem in 1342. They interpreted the story in their way which is basically what I’ve done.”
New Zealand artist Colin McCahon produced a 1966 painting series entitled The 14 Stations of the Cross, using landscape to enact the narrative. And Whanganui artist Lee Morgan held an Easter exhibition of 14 paintings entitled Stations that expressed his abhorrence of war at Milbank Gallery in 2018.
Hall’s prints place the familiar story in contemporary, local settings with the artist himself replacing the central figure in each scene and Whanganui audiences will enjoy spotting local landmarks and some local figures in the scenes.
Brass Whanganui musicians and local bellydancers make appearances in two of the prints and Hall has featured family and friends in some as well.
Hall’s own mother is depicted in the scene based on Jesus meeting his mother on the way to his crucifixion.
“The works are based on my experiences so the people in my life and the things that influence me are there,” Hall said.
Magpies are present in all of the prints for no particular reason other than the artist likes them; however, other animals are significant. In Jesus Falls for the Third Time, the central figure is walking a tightrope in front of the lion monument at the foot of Whanganui’s veterans’ steps, and in the foreground is a goat with strips of cloth tied to its horns.
“It’s the original scapegoat,” Hall said.
“The word originates from the tradition of people tying their sins to goats in the form of pieces of cloth.”
And to lift the mood and create a circus-like atmosphere, there’s a bouncy castle in the scene.
The prints also have more obscure imagery that contains literary and cinematic references Hall hopes some viewers will recognise.
“People have been finding significance in the work that I never intended and that’s great,” he said.
“I started the series in 2019 and each print represents around two months of work.
“I got a lot done during the first Covid-19 lockdown and I was very enthused about the work but it was harder during the second one in 2021. I found it hard to get motivated then.”
Hall has limited the series to 10 prints of each work. A buyer has purchased an entire set of prints and two individual prints have also been sold.
A print of number 7 in the series Jesus Falls for the Second Time has been sent to Armenia to feature in the International Print Biennale Yerevan and Hall will travel there in September.
He has received support for his travel costs from Whanganui & Partners’ Creative Champions Fund which is available to local artists who want to take their work to national and international audiences.
The Stations of the Cross – Floor Talk: Saturday, April 22, at 11am. Space Studio & Gallery, 18 Saint Hill St. Open 10am to 2pm Wednesday to Saturday.
