Tom Hunter firstly gave us a synopsis of his background. He grew up in a small village in Dorset, worked on farms and building sites, and after this, he was employed by the
Forestry Commission as a Tree Surgeon in London.
After eight months hitch hiking across America he decided that he wanted to earn his living as a Photographer. He was accepted by the
Royal College of Art to study and has exhibited his work in
The Saatchi Gallery, The National Gallery, White Cube and Serpentine Galleries.
During his life as a student in the late 1980's, he squatted in Hackney in the "
London Fields" area of London with his friends. He sold his work in jumble sales at
Brick Lane on Sundays. He described the buildings where he squatted, as being derelict since the
Blitz\of World War II. There were 100,000 empty houses resembling a
ghetto. At this time there was an article in the news paper describing these houses as a
"Blot on the Landscape" suggesting perhaps that they should be demolished.
But Tom Hunter saw these houses as a living sculpture and he wanted to protect them. As a student, he created a model of the street where he lived in Hackney, and said that his lecturers where not impressed by his work! He also documented the life around him using a
Large 5 x 4 Format Camera. He was passionate about the place where he and his friends lived, and wanted to highlight life in this area. One of his friends had converted a garage into a Buddhist Temple. An article in
Time Out helped the cause to save the street. Hunters' plan to preserve the neighbourhood was successful. He said that he is proud of the part he was able to play in this. His street sculpture is now a permanent exhibition piece.
When he finished his course at college, he bought a Double Decker bus and documented the lives of the people he travelled with. The images he showed us were iconic images of travellers. During this time, he saw how images have a direct impact on society. His quiet, meditative photographs calmed the feelings of people towards the travellers, and they began to gain more respect in the community. However, sadly another image later depicting the Travellers in a different vain, created a violent reaction from the public, and life for them was once again threatened, and many attacks on their property ensued.
Hunter then went on to discuss the images that we are perhaps more familiar with.
"Woman Reading a Eviction Order" for example, influenced by
Jan Vermeer's painting
"Woman Reading a Letter." Hunter commented that what he sees in the viewfinder, and what he searches for, is the quietness of a situation. The serenity and meditative qualities that he sees of a parallel between life and fiction. Others' seeing his images didn't understand his comment on the
"Girl Reading an Eviction Order." He said that the situation was read as one of aggression or protest. He also said that his image had been manipulated by some to extract the background, not understanding that the whole scene was an important factor to the image, visually describing the essence of the emotion and hopelessness of the situation. The image speaks of a sadness and of the worries that affect ordinary people every day but within those situations there is an acceptance that resonates a quiet serenity.
As I listened to Tom Hunter speak, I saw a man with a sense of vision, a sense of purpose, using his photography, his art, to comment on the life and the world around him. I found his to be an endearing character full of passion and purpose. By listening to him, you know that his world is incredibly important to him, and that in his photography he protects that world. He is visibly involved with the people and the places he portrays remaining friends with those he has portrayed; his work gives us a message about life and all its intricacies. He shows us the people we forget, and the situations we perhaps ignore. His images are "
silent" but they do speak volumes about the society we live in.
Tom Hunter "Girl Reading an Eviction Order" courtesy of
