Tom Hunter
British artist Tom Hunter uses photography to comment on the contemporary social realities of specific sub-cultural groups, predominately in East London, such as squatters and travelers, among whom he lives and works. Creating formal, stylized compositions based on historical paintings, Hunter’s richly colored cibachrome prints imbue the modest events and landscapes he photographs with a status and dignity that they would not usually be given.
For the series "Persons Unknown," Hunter created powerful portraits of squatters who formed a community by settling in the abandoned warehouses of Hackney, in East London. In one of his best-known images, for which he won the Photographic Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in 1998, a young woman with a baby beside her reads a possession order, illuminated by the light from the window that she faces. Hunter’s use of a strong and direct light source, combined with the contemplative pose, which we see repeated throughout this series, directly references the paintings of Vermeer, lending the scene a strong sense of gravitas.
Tom Hunter lives and works in East London. He graduated from the London College of Printing in 1994, and studied for his MA at the Royal College of Art, where, in 1996, …
British artist Tom Hunter uses photography to comment on the contemporary social realities of specific sub-cultural groups, predominately in East London, such as squatters and travelers, among whom he lives and works. Creating formal, stylized compositions based on historical paintings, Hunter’s richly colored cibachrome prints imbue the modest events and landscapes he photographs with a status and dignity that they would not usually be given.
For the series "Persons Unknown," Hunter created powerful portraits of squatters who formed a community by settling in the abandoned warehouses of Hackney, in East London. In one of his best-known images, for which he won the Photographic Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in 1998, a young woman with a baby beside her reads a possession order, illuminated by the light from the window that she faces. Hunter’s use of a strong and direct light source, combined with the contemplative pose, which we see repeated throughout this series, directly references the paintings of Vermeer, lending the scene a strong sense of gravitas.
Tom Hunter lives and works in East London. He graduated from the London College of Printing in 1994, and studied for his MA at the Royal College of Art, where, in 1996, he was awarded the Photography Prize by Fuji Film for his series "Travellers." In 2006, Tom became the only artist to have a solo photography show at the National Gallery, London with his series "Living in Hell and Other Stories." Hunter has been commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of London and The Royal Shakespeare Company, and his works are in many collections around the world including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Victoria and Albert Museum London, and the National Gallery in Washington, DC. He is Professor of Photography at the London College of Communications.
Text courtesy of Yancey Richardson
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
Tate Modern, London
Moderna Museet, Stockholm,
Smithsonian, Washington, DC
National Gallery, Washington, DC
National Gallery, London
Los Angles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York
Marine Contemporary, Los Angeles
Green on Red Gallery, Dublin