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| Tom Hunter (c) 1997 |
Though many young students jet off to London universities, some of us chose the idyllic coastal city, Southampton and going to Solent University: now becoming the new hub for media and fashion arts in the South. One of the treats we had was having internationally exhibited and praised fine art photographer Tom Hunter come in to talk about his work (and basically his life story) the 7th March.
There was quite a buzz from photography students and tutors and it's easy to see why. A few highlights of his career he mentioned was last month having two of his photographs collected by MOMA, one of the most influential art galleries in the world; Saatchi personally asking for his photography to be exhibited at his gallery, having the first solo photographic show at The National Gallery, winning the John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award with 'Woman Reading a Possession Order' (1997, see left) and many other notable achievements. After reading through his vast biography it's a wonder to see how he manages to make time for a two hour lecture at Southampton Solent University.
He began by talking of his not-so-glamorous beginnings: growing up in Dorset, squatting in London and how his surroundings inspired him to document what was happening around him. It was refreshing to hear Hunter admit he wasn't good with the technical side of photography at first and that as long as the concept is strong the image will come together. Though Hunter's work is regarded as fine art, his main topic has been very political (when he was a student his tutors told him that politics and art don't go together and his work would be seen with heavy criticism.) During his lecture we realized very quickly his passion for politics (and severe dislike for the Tories) by his colourful language which was entertaining at first though felt quite repetitive and off topic over the course.
Having recently discovered my new love for art history I was particularly interested to see where Hunter got his inspirations from and how he'd recreate classical art paintings from the likes of Carravagio, John Everett Millais, Nicolas Poussin, Johannes Vermeer and compose it to a modern setting. These references can be seen in his 'Living in Hell and Other Stories' book published by The National Gallery where he'd documented the life of Hackney through staged recreations from the local newspaper. (Buy here from Amazon.co.uk) I also enjoyed seeing his work exhibited alongside Eugène Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus and with other photographer's like Jeff Wall and Sarah Jones at the 'Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present' exhibition at The National Gallery (Oct 13 2012 - Jan 20 2013).
It was a delight to have such a renowned photographer, Tom Hunter bringing a little bit of London to Southampton and hopefully there's many more to come!
It was a delight to have such a renowned photographer, Tom Hunter bringing a little bit of London to Southampton and hopefully there's many more to come!
If you missed seeing Tom Hunter's work at The National Gallery you can see a solo exhibition of his work 'Public Spaces, Public Stages' (22 Feb - 25th Mar) at the Print House Gallery, London. Bootstrap Company writes:
'Taken with a homemade large format pinhole camera, the images talk about the community spaces where the theatre of life is acted out, which make up a neighbourhood.'
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Nisha Haq
Creative Director
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