September 15, 2018–May 12, 2019
Hauling is an immersive installation of hand-drawn work by artist Ethan Murrow. Created specifically for the Currier, this multifaceted installation features a series of drawings in different scales and materials that explore the universal themes of work, handcraft, and collaboration. Prominent within the installation is a massive, panoramic wall drawing. Murrow’s most ambitious work to date, the drawing was created with a team of six other artists and nearly 1,000 Sharpie pens, and it extends across more than 100 feet of gallery wall space.
Hauling is inspired by the history of the Manchester region and its people, emphasizing labor and collaboration. Murrow’s wall drawing depicts groups of figures working together to push, pull, and haul large accumulations of objects symbolic of human labor – ranging from Native American and pre-industrial hand tools to the high-tech apparatuses of the modern era. The exhibition also includes two large-scale graphite drawings on paper, depicting scenes related to elements of Manchester’s famed industrial history of the 19th and early 20th century, as well as a 52-foot-long scroll drawing animated by a mechanical sculpture. The scroll drawing depicts imagery of rope, which Murrow views as one of the most elemental hand tools, and also connects to more symbolic and universal ideas of connectivity, timelines, migration, and, of course, hauling.
Murrow worked with several artists, craftspeople, historians, and New Hampshire citizens to help research and create his expansive project.
