Who Pulls the Strings?

Catalogue Essay:

Who Pull The Strings?

Born 1983 in South Wales, but raised in South East London where she lived until the age of 16.  Harriet has since made her home and studio in rural Co. Leitrim, Ireland, where she lives to date.

Harriet’s work is an ongoing exploration of narrative and themes inspired by Jungian story analysis, and mythology. “I am interested in ‘hermeneutics’ the art of literal translation, in attention to characters, events and symbols in a story’s underlying structure”

Harriet’s ideas are often exploring her own spirituality and a personal quest of understanding the metaphysical nature of the universe and its relationship to the psychic and that of the collective psyche that Jung refers to as the collective unconsciousness.

The surrealists of the 1920s were artists that wanted to change the world. Lead by Andre Breton they wrote manifestos claiming a radical shift in political reason could be achieved through art, by the liberation of the imagination as culture was the life affirming glue between people. The surrealists believed that ‘truth’ was to be found in Sigmund Freud’s notions of the murkier recesses of subconscious.

Like the surrealists Harriet is also a truth seeker but believes that Jung’s theories and research far surpass that of Freud. She is interested in a contemporary development of surrealism.

Pop Surrealism, born from consumer culture much like pop art, goes further with elaborate juxtapositions of mass media and pop imagery. Exploring the continued influence of surrealism, as it has been interpreted and expanded by artists who have come of age in an era defined by popular culture. By using people’s preconceptions of pop imagery, then reconfiguring it to convey new surreal ideas.

From amongst these new surreal ideas, Harriet has drawn a notion about the conditioning cultural consciousness of the mass media. By employing its methods through art to aid the wakening of people out of a media saturated mindset. “The world often seems to me as being in a crisis of consciousness, a direct result of cultural conditioning via the television and mass media.” Pop surrealism art is often filled with a humour of modern living in a commodified environment and invokes wonder. Wonder about how far we as a human race will carry on our unsustainable way of living, wonder about what messages we are indoctrinating into the minds of our children and future generations. The carnivalesque qualities in the work of this movement, twisting imagery from the mass media, to us seems surreal because it displaces the expected. The mass media idealized idea of what we should be aspiring to in our lives, beauty, wealth, etc is the norm but is in many ways surreal already twisting reality to depict perfection.

The puppet characters who are all females, are contemplative of this artists own individuality and “dark alluring forces of the vast collective consciousness, that is the Mass Media; filtering into the collective unconsciousness and swaying them from discovering who they really are.”  Harriet explains. Harriet’s Characters appear tainted with a sweet yet sinister confusion we sense a feeling they are bound or trapped.

Fairy tales have long been thought of like this expounded by Carl Jung’s writings, through the events, characters and symbol within the Stories representing changing aspects of your psyche.  Fairy tales being classic archetypes common to all humans often referred to as rites of passage.

Looking back at Harriet’s previous work such as House of sweets a Hansel and Gretel story and Aladdina and Aladdin story we can glean an understanding of the way Harriet approaches her concepts. Aladdina was a body of work is inspired by the tarot as a way of mapping out your current archetypal path or the current state of your psyche. The fairy tales have long been thought of like this expounded by Carl Jung’s writings, through the events, characters and symbol within the Stories representing changing aspects of your psyche.  Fairy tales being classic archetypes common to all humans often referred to as rites of passage.

It was Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estes book, Woman Who Run with the Wolves, which first lead Harriet to Jung’s theories.  This Jungian approach to unlocking the secrets encoded in fairy tales and discovering the wisdom found there, for helping us at different stages of our lives and connecting us back to our true human nature as a wild species.  In Estes book she often breaks the stories into tasks for the psyche to complete before coming of round consciousness. Tarot is like these tasks, each card representing some part of this archetypal journey.

Harriet became fascinated by hermeneutics and hidden meaning underpinning stories, breaking them down through focusing on the archetypal structure that the stories embody

In this new body of work we see Harriet expand her artistic depictions of story analysis into the exploration of allegory, a device used widely in histories of all forms of the arts because of its immense power to illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are easily accessible and tangible to an audience.

Harriet has focused on esoteric concepts from Carlo Lorenzini’s classic story of Pinocchio and the more famously adapted version in the 1940’s Disney classic. This story of a wooden puppet that comes to life conceals spiritual allegory with roots in the mystery schools of occultism. Harriet explains further:

“The children’s story about “being good” and “not lying” as allegory becomes the quest for wisdom and spiritual enlightenment. Crammed with timeless and honest social commentaries, Pinocchio depicts a very unsettling vision of our modern world and prescribes, perhaps, a way to escape its traps. Striving to achieve a higher level of spirituality through self-improvement is a very universal theme found in most religions. Pinocchio’s allegory exposes itself as typically Masonic and reveals the philosophical background of those in control of the mass media.”

Pinocchio was originally written by Carlo Lorenzini (known by his pen name, Carlo Collodi) between 1881 and 1883 in Italy. Lorenzini began his writing career in newspapers (Il Lampioneand Il Fanfulla ), where he often used satire to express his political views. In 1875, he entered the world of children’s literature and used this outlet to transmit his political convictions. The series Giannettino, for example, often referred to the unification of Italy.

“Lorenzini became fascinated by the idea of using an amiable, rascally character as a means of expressing his own convictions through allegory. In 1880 he began writing Storia di un burattino (“The story of a marionette”), also called Le Avventure di Pinocchio, which was published weekly in Il Giornale dei Bambini (the first Italian newspaper for children).”

Lorenzini’s work was not solely political. His writings, especially Le Avventure di Pinocchio contained a great deal of metaphysical aspects that are often overlooked by modern readers. One important fact needed to fully understand the depth of Lorenzini’s work is that he was an active Freemason. In an essay called Pinocchio, mio Foretell (Pinocchio, my Brother) Italian Freemason Giovanni Alveoli describes the Masonic background of Lorenzini:

“Carlo Collodi’s initiation into Freemasonry, even if cannot be found in any official records, is universally recognized and often referred to. Aldo Mola, a non-mason who is generally defined as an official historian of Freemasonry, has expressed with great certitude the writer’s initiation into the Masonic family. Events in Collodi’s life seem to further confirm this thesis: the creation in 1848 of a paper called “Il Lampione” (The Beacon), which, as stated by Lorenzini, “illuminated all who were teetering in darkness”; he also considered himself a “passionate disciple of Mazzini” (a prominent Italian Freemason and revolutionary).”

Geppetto has created puppet, but he realizes that he needs the help of the “Greater God” to give Pinocchio the divine spark needed in order to become a “real boy” or, in esoteric terms, an illuminated man. So he “wishes upon a star”. He asks the Greater God (the Great Architect of the Masons) to infuse Pinocchio with some of its divine essence.

Pinocchio realizes the sad state he is in. He is caged up like an animal and at the mercy of a cruel puppeteer. He was duped into selling his soul.

Feeling lost he lies to the fairy and himself. This idea of not confronting your problems is expressed in Harriet’s painting lost.

Original Press Release:

White Lady Art presents

Harriet Myfanwy Nia Tahany

Who Pulls The Strings?

‘White Lady Art’ in Dublin’s Temple Bar area, located at 14 Wellington Quay will be presenting a new exhibition by Irish Pop Surrealist – Harriet Myfanwy Nia Tahany, from July 4th – 27th 2013.

Harriet is a recipient of the RDS Taylor award, graduated from the University of Ulster in 2009 with a Masters in Fine Art. Harriet has exhibited in Belfast and Sligo, this will be her eighth solo exhibition and second solo in Dublin. This new body of work includes paintings and drawings with a Jungian theme, exploring concepts derived from this and an esoteric interpretation of the classic children’s story Pinocchio.

Jung believed that, to be psychologically healthy, one must strike a balance between the demands of society and what we really are, in being oblivious to one’s persona he believed that to be underestimating the importance of society, but to be unaware of one’s deep individuality, is to become society’s puppet.

‘Who Pulls The Strings?’ is an exhibition based on this Jungian notion, an exploration of ideas and narratives set in a psychedelic dreamscape depiction of puppet characters in a metaphysical world.

Harriet is well known for her ongoing exploration of themes inspired by ‘hermeneutics’, the art of literal translation, in attention to characters, events and symbols in a story’s underlying structure, often with a particular emphasis on fairytales and mythology. In this new body of work we see Harriet expand her artistic depictions of story analysis into the exploration of allegory, a device used widely in histories of all forms of the arts because of its immense power to illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are easily accessible and tangible to an audience.

Harriet has focused on esoteric concepts from Carlo Lorenzini’s classic story of Pinocchio and the more famously adapted version in the 1940’s Disney classic. This story of a wooden puppet that comes to life conceals spiritual allegory with roots in the mystery schools of occultism. Harriet explains further:
“The children’s story about “being good” and ”not lying” as allegory becomes the quest for wisdom and spiritual enlightenment. Crammed with timeless and honest social commentaries, Pinocchio depicts a very unsettling vision of our modern world and prescribes, perhaps, a way to escape its traps. Striving to achieve a higher level of spirituality through self-improvement is a very universal theme found in most religions. Pinocchio’s allegory exposes itself as typically Masonic and reveals the philosophical background of those in control of the mass media.”