TOM HUNTER – BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU DO
When I emailed Tom Hunter at the start of Hackney Young Photographers I didn’t really expect a reply so I was pretty surprised when two weeks ago when he emailed and offered his time to talk to the group. I typed as fast as I could and below is the results, I hope it’s faithful to the exciting, inspiring hour we had with him.
” Believe in what you do – that’s what I’ve done. I put all my energy and passion into my projects and I think that’s what comes through. “
All images are copy write Tom Hunter unless otherwise stated
” I moved from Bournemouth to Richmond Rd in the 80’s and ended up squatting there for 15 years. Back then the area wasn’t the same as it is now, there where loads of empty houses. We were more than a hundred squatters over 60 properties and a lot of us were handy so we started doing up our homes. The Hackney Gazette were saying our neighborhood was a crime ridden derelict ghetto and asked ” Why would people want to live here? “ but it was our community.
Every week there were Negative images in black and white propaganda against squatters – they wanted to kick us out and I wanted to respond to this.
I’m pretty sure I’ve got dyslexic so I’d never done well at school and dropped out pretty young. When I’d got to London I’d started taking photos on the streets in Brick Lane hoping to sell them. I was at college at the time and my tutor must have seen something in me because he pushed me to go for a degree. At 25 I qualified as a mature student so I got grant and went to London College of Printing ( now LCC ). I think the best I’d hoped for is getting to work in a gallery.
I wanted to represent my area show we were real people these were our homes and let viewers look through the windows. I made this photographic model of my area that’s now on permanent display in The Museum of London for my degree show and This has been a strong subject for me ever since.
After 2 years traveling round Europe running free parties I moved back to my street to the eviction orders being handed out.
Most of the orders just said ‘persons unknown ‘ and it felt so cold. I’d started looking back across history to Dorothea Lange who took these powerful shots of the evictions of the great depression.
Copy Write Dorothea Lange
You really feel for the mother and child and I wanted to create the same emotion in photos of the friends around me who were losing their homes. I thought ‘ how can I make people care?
I started looking into old masters like Vermeer. He portrayed his family and the people round him in a really beautiful way, they really feel familiar. This was the first time ordinary people have been painted in high art.
* Woman reading a letter in a noble window
This painting really gives dignity to the subjects and I used this as the basis for
* Woman with an eviction notice.
This is still one of my best selling photos and it won national portrait award gallery.
I wanted people to question why is this woman losing her home? Why is she being kicked out and made homeless?
Camera used : 35mm Pentax large format camera 5inch 4 inches make 5ft by 4th photos high quality
This took me on to a whole series.
They’re not all-faithful reproduction it’s about the feeling. I wanted to say to hackney council – We are worthy people. We are just as important.
Beauty and notation of beauty and nature in hackney
Ophelia by John Millais @ Tate Britain
My sister used to love this romantic period painting considered sentimental and naff for years.
In my version a girl has left her first rave, off her head and fallen off her bike into the pond in spring field Park.
Everything in this picture is considered ugly and the plants are weeds, but I think it’s beautiful. Wasteland can be beautiful.
The landscape in Hackney is changing now, it’s becoming luxury apartments. I loved the architecture of the places were we had raves, you could get into old cinemas and up on the roof and I’ve always loved recording the lives people are living in Hackney, local people. Friends would tell me their stories and I’d re created them. I think Hackney is a beautiful place. Hackney’s got everything all the beauty all the drama all the murder all the mystery, you never need to leave for excitement.
I really wanted to say Hackney is an important place,– Just like the great masters we’ve got it all , you don’t need to go any further to find nudity, horror, violence, we’ve got it all in Hackney.
I wanted to bring history to life again with my contemporary reading based on news from my area.
* ‘Living in Hell’ – a woman left to rot to death on her sofa based on the painting in the National Gallery. I bought 1000 Cockroaches from the US to set up this shot and decorated a flat
* Sunday Times commissions this photo and it’s a take on Venus by Valezquez. I went to a Shoeditch strip joint The Axe
I loved Caravaggio ( who was a total brawler! ) and referencing old masters. This led to me being the only photographer to have an exhibition in the National Gallery.
Other projects
1. Holly street estate – Hackney council were blowing up tower blocks. Blaming the problem on the housing but again I thought – these are communities. I had to build up trust within the community before I got invited in, I’d take a Polaroid and show look “ I want to show you in your home and how proud you are to live here’. If their place had been maintained the lifts, the halls looked after they would have been happy living there. After these picture the place was blown up and this is a lasting record of the exodus. In the end I photographed 70 flats out of 115 met the residents association I got close and you become like family in a way. Made a model to make you feel like king Kong looks through the window ( below )
2. V& A project onshopkeepers between my house and the museum Well street cafe’s local shops not chain stores, new people turn up, immigrants and get their foot on the ladder with shops Vietnamese.
3. Latest project photographing the stories people tell me – like the Mole Man of Hackney. 60 churches – Celebrate churches and communal spaces where people come to share, Ridley rd marketing its like being in a different part of the world, objects, meats.
4. Woodby downs estate – Serpentine / the royal wedding
5. Back to talking about housing and history of London inc Oswald Botang ( famous Hackney designer ) shot mix up rational backdrops and modern people ( below )
It’s easier to get others involved because people know what i do now – I document London. and in fact they’ve just made me a Dr because of all my work
Questions
How did you career start? Accidentally basically, I took pictures on Brick Lane to sell and thought I’d get a job in a shop. Every year I think that’s it and it keeps going and getting bigger. I feel incredibly lucky and I think it’ll probably never happen again.
How do you get your inspiration – Little things capture me, also I end up doing series and that seems to get commissions.
Money – You end up piecing an income together. If you get an advertising campaign it’s £10k a day but I don’t do that often. I teach at the London College of printing / LCC, do the occasional fashion shoot for Vogue, Dazed & Confused etc but. The truth is I find it more exciting to do my own projects
Do you always have a plan or you just take photos. Once a week I go out with a pinhole camera and that’s what I used for the churches. You don’t need money you don’t need a big camera you just need a tripod and a camera.
Final word from Tom - Believe in what you do – thats’ what i’ve done. i put all my energy and passion into my project and it comes through. That’s why I think I’ve done well with my work. It’s your attitude that sets you apart so always think to yourself – i’ll do the best.
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