Bunnies as mad shaggers is one theme of Hannah Gartside’s beautifully crafted sculptures but there is also tenderness, melancholy and humour. Hannah Gartside with some of her bunnies. Credit: Chris Hopkins Created using women’s gloves, one glove tucked into another to create a single rabbit, they are remarkably evocative.
In addition to those in an amusing array of sexual positions, some fly solo and some are otherwise engaged. One squat character leans back with a decided mansplainer arrogance; another tenderly cradles a baby bunny. Created using long evening gloves, others stand tall like sentries, arms crossed, watching over proceedings.
Gartside’s show at the upcoming Melbourne Art Fair, Bunnies in Love, Lust and Longing , features dozens of these sculptures in their first public airing en masse. The 37-year-old Melbourne-based artist says the longing of the title “is not simply sexual; it’s a longing to be understood and for there to be space for that”. The sleepy bunny, who is lying down resting its head on its hand, which she made last year, won the 2024 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize .
“[It] really just showed me what I needed at the time, which was solitude and rest. So the works can do that thing of showing me something new, maybe something that I want to feel, or something that I haven’t realised,” she says, adding that she’s interested to see how they resonate with audiences. “The emotional tones vary, which actually is a real joy for me bec.