Nude photograph sequence recaptures the spirit of the unique Glastonbury

Proper now, a whole bunch of hundreds of music followers are descending on Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, for the Glastonbury Competition. What began life in 1970 as a small free pageant for hippie freaks has now turn into a part of Britain’s ‘summer time season’ as Ascot, Wimbledon, and the Chelsea Flower Present.

Over the weekend, tens of millions of TV viewers will take pleasure in stay protection of performances by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney and Pet Store Boys – and a few might assume that is all there’s to the pageant these days. However those that really make it in particular person will uncover that away from the primary levels, there’s an entire world of inventive anarchy that retains the spirit of the unique pageant alive. And that spirit is clearly embodied in a brand new exhibition of portraits taken at Glastonbury by award-winning artist Tom Hunter, impressed by his mum’s photographs of the Isle of Wight pageant within the late Nineteen Sixties.

Within the summers of 2017 and 2019, artist Tom Hunter arrange a makeshift photograph sales space on the Glastonbury pageant. Within the spirit of the primary ‘Summer time of Love’ within the late Nineteen Sixties, Hunter requested the festival-goers to reimagine the liberation of that period and embrace the liberty of going bare.

The photograph sales space was constructed of MDF sheets, and Hunter used a medium format movie digital camera within the classical custom of the Nineteenth-century portrait photographers. In 2017, he was based mostly within the Shangri-La subject and was assisted by Hanna Wiebe, who ventured into the crowds to ask contributors to the sales space.

Two years later, he returned with Claire Loussouam to painting those that frequented the Misplaced Horizon sauna, a nudist space within the Inexperienced Fields of the pageant. This time, consistent with the mission’s ethos, Hunter and Loussouam went bare themselves.

A number of the ensuing portraits will go on show right this moment within the exhibition The place Have All The Flowers Gone at Martin Parr Basis in Bristol. In the meantime, Tom will return to Glastonbury Competition as soon as extra this weekend and shoot a brand new sequence of portraits which will likely be integrated into the exhibition, which runs till 10 July.

This sequence was impressed by pictures taken by Tom’s mum, Sheelagh Hunter, on a Field Brownie – a number of which will likely be included within the exhibition – and her tales of the Isle of Wight Competition in 1970. Hunter aimed to create a up to date imaginative and prescient of right this moment’s pageant tradition while evoking a nostalgic, historic view of early 70s festivals.

“I’ve by no means made pictures bare earlier than,” Tom explains. “Nevertheless it needed to be achieved within the Misplaced Horizons sauna subject, the place everybody else was bare. It might have been unnatural to be carrying garments. The one disadvantage was the tough Somerset solar, which meant no mad canine and English males at noon.”

Photographer Martin Parr says: “We have seen many pictures taken at Glastonbury Competition over time, however none as memorable as Tom Hunter’s nude portraits. They’re actually fairly revealing, but additionally convey an excellent sense of dignity, satisfaction and pleasure in these they depict.”

The exhibition is one in an extended line of exhibits by the Dorset-born artist, identified for his social documentary tasks investigating different communities, modern music and experimental cultures in London and throughout Europe.

Tom’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in main solo and group exhibits within the UK, USA and Sweden. He is additionally printed eight books and has been commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of London and The Royal Shakespeare Firm. And his photographs are in collections around the globe, together with MOMA New York, The V&A, Tate Trendy, Smithsonian and the Los Angles County Museum of Artwork.

Tom’s work was most lately on present as a part of the London exhibition, Vanished East Finish, Documentary Pictures from the ’70s & ’80s. In the meantime, the most recent e book to function his pictures is One other Nation, British Documentary Pictures Since 1945, by Gerry Badger, printed this Might by Thames & Hudson.

An awesome learn for anybody within the historical past of pictures, it is a complete overview of how photographers and photograph artists have depicted Britain and British society over the past 70 years.

The place Have All The Flowers Gone opens right this moment on the Martin Parr Basis, Printworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol, and runs till 10 July. A e book of the primary yr of the mission was printed in 2017 by Hartmann Tasks, accompanied by textual content and pictures by Hunter’s dad and mom.