Alexis Hunter: The model’s revenge

Gender, sexuality, and power – the 1970s photographs of this feminist artist have been described as ‘icons of fearlessness for women’.

When | Āhea 31 Aug 2016 – 26 Feb 2017
Where | Ki hea Level 5
Cost | Te utu Free exhibition
Ages | Te reanga All ages
Accessibility | E wātea ana ki
- Wheelchair accessible
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The photographs on display by New Zealand artist Alexis Hunter (1948–2014), address gender politics, sexuality, and power dynamics.

Hunter originally trained as a painter, but switched to photography shortly after she moved to London in 1972: ‘I felt very strongly about feminism and photography better expressed my political ideals.’

Alexis Hunter, Untitled. From the Object Series, 1974-75. Black and white photograph, gelatin silver print. Purchased 2008 (O.031448).

‘Depersonalised’ is how Alexis Hunter described the models in Untitled. From the Object Series. ‘They become a body not a person, and then just an image not an image of a person.’

Viewers in the 1970s were surprised to discover that The Object Series was by a woman artist. Photographers were then assumed to be men, and sexualised images were usually of women. Hunter observed that her photographs were consequently seen as ‘more sexy – and strangely colder’.

These works toured in 2007 as part of WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, a major international exhibition of feminist art. Today, Hunter’s works, and other feminist art of the 1970s, are again receiving attention.
Alexis Hunter, Untitled. From the Object Series, 1974-75. Black and white photograph, gelatin silver print. Purchased 2008 (O.031444).
Alexis Hunter, The model’s revenge no.1, 1974. Black and white photograph, gelatin silver print. Purchased 2016. Te Papa (O.044640)
Alexis Hunter, Approach to fear III: Taboo - demystify, 1976. Black and white photograph, gelatin silver print. Purchased 2008. Te Papa (O.031419/A-T to T-T)
Alexis Hunter, Approach to fear XIX: Voyeurism - exposure, 1978. Black and white photograph, gelatin silver print. Purchased 2016. Te Papa (O.044641/A-T to T-T)