Tom Hunter (b. 1965)

I reviewed Tom Hunter as part of my Documentary course work but have revisited my notes and comments in light of my Body of Work.

In a similar mode to Strand and Killip Hunter prefers to work slowly using a Wista 4 x 5 camera and also a large format pinhole camera something I’ve only ever played with at a night class.  After leaving school with only one qualification he seemed to work his way through a number of jobs before undertaking a night class in photography.

“People have got a bit too excited about digital technology, thinking you’ve got to have the latest digital this, that and the other,” he tells me. “But it’s not about the equipment, it’s about capturing the light – you can take pictures on anything. You don’t need to spend £1500 on the latest digital multitasking thing. Going to a church hall and taking maybe three pictures in an hour is going back to basics. It’s like slow cooking. I like that methodical way of working, not walking around taking lots and lots of shots.”¹

He graduated in 1994 from London College of Printing with a first-class honours degree and began by photographing his friends and neighbours living in squats, but rather than depicting the squat dwellers as misfits and victims he wanted them to be perceived in a more dignified way.  For me his images are taken with consideration of both the light and composition and this is how I want to work with the residents of Ngawi.

“I had got very sick of seeing people I knew, travellers and squatters, presented in the media in black-and-white images with captions saying, ‘These people are scum’. I was saying, ‘We’re not scum, we’re just people like anyone else and we need to be shown’. Even though I lived in a squat, I never thought I was outside of society. I always felt I was part of this country and that my voice should be heard. I thought by using colour and by using certain ways of depicting people I could create more empathy.” ¹

I think this is also true for the people in the rural communities of NZ.  Having a voice to highlight the growing issues of mental health.  They are the forgotten part of New Zealand, but they are the backbone of the country’s prosperity.  Hunter also comments “colour and light became key to the way I looked at my neighbourhood”²  He has continued to use friends and the inhabitants of his Hackney community to convey local issues which include elements of realism believing that “images are real yet created by the person manipulating the camera” ² Which will be the aim of my Body of Work.

Hunter states that his inspiration is drawn from the artist Johannes Vermeer.  The images are produced to highlight the seriousness of the situations he and his neighbours found themselves in – most will not understand and only see the beauty in the image.

“Newspaper headlines come and go. I want to show that they are very serious and that what goes on around you is very important,” he says. “I wanted to make them monumental, and put them in The National Gallery. There is an argument that aesthetics creates a barrier; I’m arguing it takes the barrier down and helps you engage more“.¹

Hunter researched and discovered that there was limited information about Vermeer, but he is believed by some to have used a camera obscura and it is this relationship with photography in Vermeer’s paintings that fascinated Hunter.  Vermeer’s paintings of his small local community are intimate with minutiae details , Hunter calls him a “painter of the people” ², and describes Vermeer’s work as “magical and amazing” ²  For me reviewing Hunter’s work that same approach can be seen in the projects he has undertaken in his local community highlighting the beauty that exists in the most unlikely of places.  This is something I think I need to try and achieve in Ngawi.  By staying and getting to know people I hope to gain access and understand more about their lives and not just the health issues.

Hunter acknowledges that there is a downside in his creations and limiting the audience to small exclusive galleries, when he really wants to reach out to the world:

“But there are downsides to everything, and the downside of the art world can be that suddenly you’re producing a commodity, and your work is being bought by rich people and shown quite exclusively to them. For me, it’s been really important to go beyond just a small West End gallery where I will only communicate with a few people. I didn’t want to become ghettoised in the art world – if I was just trying to create beautiful objects that would be fine, but I’m trying to put across a message as well.” ¹ I want my images to highlight the issues of the rural communities in a similar way its so easy for the government to get those quick wins by pouring money into inner city projects when they should be supporting the rural communities.

I also found the following YouTube interesting (accessed 23/12/19):

 

Bibliography

Research

Access 23/12/19

1          http://www.tomhunter.org/think-global-act-local/

2          http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zt7ky