Blender Gallery is proud to present ‘Who Controls the Present?’ a collection of photographs by Glenn Hunt.

Although Glenn Hunt can’t control the present he has spent a large majority of his life trying to capture the present behind the lens of a camera. “Who controls the Present?” is an adventure into what Hunt calls simply, “real photography”.

In today’s world of the engineered image Hunt says, “There is a hunger to see the real”. “Not only to see, but know it to be real”.

Days of endlessly walking the streets and seizing instances in time have seen Hunt produce this cumulated work over a span of ten years.

At the blink of an eye surreal moments are laced amongst the normality of street life.

Hunt’s lens gives these moments the opportunity to resonate for an eternity.

Although the viewer of Hunt’s work may wish to derive meaning from his images, Hunt says, “The images are expressed best in the language they are written, photography!”

Glenn Hunt is a founding member of the extraordinarily gifted Australian collective, “Oculi” (www.oculi.com.au) which has received much acclaim worldwide for its distinctive award winning photography.
Many of its members share a similar attitude towards their photography.
Oculi’s need to produce bodies of work and show them free of the directives of outside influences spawned a simple website that soon had itself a huge web-cult following.
This is “another example of the hunger for the real”, Hunt explains.

Glenn Hunt has been exhibited at the Australian Centre of Photography and his works are held in the State Library of NSW and in Private and Corporate Collections across Australia.
He has been recognized by some of the photographic industry’s most respected awards (see below), most recently being selected as a finalist in the Citigroup Photographic Portrait Prize.

“Hunt’s work allows the viewer see the pieces of everyday street life which would normally be discarded. These are moments to be appreciated, to step outside ourselves and open our eyes to life’s very ‘real’ or ‘surreal’ ways” – Tali Udovich, Director, Blender Gallery

Real or Surreal, Hunt as an artist has arrived to be counted and as a photographer to be watched.

ACCOLADES:

1998 1st PLACE, Hammond Care Group award (for photographing elderly people)

2001 GOLD MEDAL in the Hasselblad Austrian Super Circuit

2001 WINNER Panorama Australian photographer of the year

2002 2ND PLACE in the Silver Camera Award for Equestrian photography (FEDERATION EQUESTRE INTERNATIONALE)

2003 1st PLACE (POY) International Photographer of the Year Awards

2003 GOLD MEDAL in the Hasselblad Austrian Super Circuit

2003 & 2004 SHORTLISTED - Energex Art Prize

2004 SHORTLISTED - 7th Agfa International Prize for Young Photojournalism

2004 1st. PLACE Humanity Photo Awards

2006 FINALIST – Citigroup Photographic Portrait Prize