Tobias Slater-Hunt
Lifelong obsession with myth and religion
Copyright © Tobias Slater-Hunt
Tobias Slater-Hunt (1971) lives and works as profesional photographer in Brighton / London, United Kingdom
7 Questions
Tobias Slater-Hunt about the Iconival project
The Iconival project was born out of a lifelong obsession with myth and religion, perhaps the hangover from a bizarre catholic upbringing.
The original plan was to tip my hat to Bettina Rheims’ chamber close work, but instead of nude portraits of “ordinary” women in hotel rooms marked by a faded decadence I intended to make imaginary portraits of mythical women in similar hotels. Eve checking in, after her “beautiful fall” from grace, Salome making ready for her dance of seduction etc. However on the meagre budget I had, I found myself travelling a Rubicon of hotels with navy blue carpets and magnolia walls. Sterile environments that were more a testimony to cleanliness, than any aspiration to taste. It was not until I got to LA that I found myself changing tack, a luxury that was afforded me by the existence of Sammy’s cameras on Venice beach. Sammy’s is an Aladdin’s cave of photographic goodness, all for hire to those with the dollar to make the dreams happen. I’d spend hours skulking around isles dripping with kit, dreaming of the potential. Common sense did prevail however. No Avedon 10 by 8 plate images, or affairs with the digital zeitgeist for me. Keep it simple. One flash light, one soft box, a very large piece of paper or two and a twin reflex rollei. Good enough for Penn, good enough for me.
And so the Iconival began, a car crash of carnival performers, mythic icons, religions symbolism and the aesthetic of the female form. The “male gaze” was ever present I suppose but I was working hard to elevate the images above this proto feminist mine field, to make the nudes about something more, indeed something “other” than desire, to make the female nude as sexless as possible, a cipher for dreams other than lust. The making of the “imaginary portraits” continue to this day, though the method of production has moved to the studio, the aesthetic has changed little, honing it little by little.
However the Iconival has thrown up several questions about my working practise, the nature of the portrait and the sequential image.
Tobias Slater-Hunt currently working on two further projects to tackle these ideas as well as allowing an outlet for non iconival ideas and aesthetics. The first project has the working title, The Most beautiful Woman in Town, taken from the story by Charles Bukowski of the same name. The project is intended to explore the nature of the portrait as fully as possible, centred around images of the partner and muse of Tobias Slater-Hunt, creating allegorical images of her many different facets; mother, artist, muse, sister, daughter, partner etc. The work plays with the notions of identity and affords me the opportunity to really experiment with other ways of making images. I am hoping to put this together as both a book and an exhibition, but really depends on whether or not galleries out there would be interested.
The second project has the working title Ascension, and furthers the idea of the portrait and identity by concentrating far more on an autobiographical aspect. Loosely based on Dante’s inferno, no, the catholic obsessions never really go away do they?, and will be a series of “one off” monumental images illustrating an ascent out of hell. Each image or cantos will be the basis for a chapter in a book of the same name. I have become increasingly interested in the different way in which photography can be consumed, from the monumental print behind glass on the gallery wall, “if you look into the abyss long enough the abyss will look into you” to the far more intimate nature of the book, the slow perusal and the turning of the page, more seductive than confrontational.
Website: www.savagemonument.blogspot.com
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