Life and Death in Hackney

Life and Death in Hackney is an extended series that has its origins in 1999. An initial showing was made at White Cube 30/11/2000-13/01/2001. 12 new works were made during 2001 and beyond, one of which ('Reservoir No. 1') was specially commissioned by Manchester Art Gallery for an exhibition 21/11/2002-25/01/03. Life and Death in Hackney references back to the themes and aesthetics of historical painters, in this case the Pre-Raphaelites. The research for this project involved looking into how the natural world is perceived in contemporary urban society, particularly around Hackney and its surroundings, and images were then created through a filter of the compositional arrangements, bright colour palette and figure poses found in works by John Everett Millais and his contemporaries. Many of these mid 19th works are well known (such as John William Waterhouse's 'Echo and Narcissus', which was the point of departure for 'Reservoir No. 1') and it was hoped that a sense of recognition might be part of the experience of viewing Life and Death in Hackney. Whilst many of the Hackney locations are not normally considered aesthetically pleasing, part of the research undertaking was to imbue these places with beauty. Locations were identified from a range of options, props and actors were also identified. Cibachrome was selected for its capacity for colour saturation. Ambient light was used to create a naturalness to constructions that were essentially artificial. The works were shown together and in various combinations in solo exhibitions in the Centro de Fotographia, Salamanca (2004); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2003/4); Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem (2003) Manchester City Art Gallery (2002); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vilnius (2002); Green on Red Gallery, Dublin (2001). Life and Death in Hackney was also Hunter's first New York solo exhibition, Yancey Richardson Gallery 16/10/03-29/11/03.