Tom Hunter

Who is Tom Hunter?

Tom Hunter is a London-based artist working in photography and film. His photographs often reference and reimagine classical paintings. He studied at the London College of Printing, and was the first photographer to have a one man show at the National Gallery, London.

His work has specialised in documenting life in Hackney, depicting local issues and sensationalist news headlines with compositions borrowed from the Old Masters. For instance, his photograph of a squatter, Woman Reading a Possession Order, references Johannes Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. This photograph won the Kobal Photographic Portrait Award in 1998. Of the photograph, which was shot with a large-format camera and printed in Ilfochrome process, Hunter said:

In 2010 Hunter screened A Palace for Us, a film he made about the elderly residents of public buildings in Woodberry Down, Manor House, London. Jonathan Jones described it as a 'magical' work of contemporary art that chronicled the postwar ambition to provide housing for the working class.

Hunter has shown work internationally in many exhibitions including Living in Hell and Other Stories at the National Gallery, London; Tableaux Vivants at the Kunsthalle Vienna; Composure at the Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto; and Parallax at Sandronirey Gallery, California. In June 2007 he took part in a group exhibition of work about the E8 area of Hackney by eight contemporary artists. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society in 2010.