Olivia’s new exhibition F
AMOUS faces from Huddersfield – including Sir Patrick Stewart, Lena Headey and Jodie Whittaker – feature in a new photographic exhibition at the town’s art gallery.
Celebrating the theme of HOME, the images are by photographer Olivia Hemingway, who herself is Huddersfield born and bred, and returned to her home town after 15 years of living in London.
Olivia, who has an Art Space studio at Bates Mill, has pulled together works that span more than a decade.
Some are part of a series related to the campaign to save A & E services at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, others focus on the relationship between people and their pets.
She captures everyday moments in cafes, pubs, homes and artists’ studios. One of the exhibition’s most poignant portraits features Olivia’s late grandmother sitting next to her budgie Bluey, a work that inspired the artist’s people and pets series.
During her freelance career in the capital Olivia photographed many big names, including illustrator Sir Quentin Blake, comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, Game of Thrones actor Paul Kaye and hip hop artist Dizzee Rascal. She was also commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, the V&A, Imperial War Museum, BBC, Dogs Trust and the UN. Latterly she worked for the Tate galleries, based at the Tate Modern.
“It was my dream job,” she says of her time at the Tate, “and some thought I was mad to give it up.
“But I met my partner, who is from Huddersfield, and didn’t want a long distance relationship and so I moved back. All my family and a lot of my friends are here. Huddersfield is somewhere that people often come back to.” She now lives in the Holme Valley. Olivia studied photography at Nottingham Trent University, graduating in 2000, and decided early on in her career that portrait photography was her forte.
She hasn’t found it difficult to gain access to big name celebrities. She explains: “People are really willing most of the time. It could be because of my experience, and I enjoy meeting people; I’m interested in them.”
She’s travelled as far afield as Japan (where she photographed the band Massive Attack) and New York, but says most of her work was based in London.
Some of it still is. She has had a number of exhibitions in the capital, notably at the Barbican Centre and The Spitz Gallery in Spitalfields.
Her Huddersfield Art Gallery exhibition, which opens on Saturday, January 27 and closes in April, has an interactive element.
Visitors will be offered the chance to fill in a postcard to describe what HOME means to them. Olivia often bases her work around stories and interviews with sitters and invites feedback.
The Huddersfield Royal Infirmary series, in collaboration with The Sharp Agency, involved interviewing people from Huddersfield and asking them for their feelings about the hospital. It’s how she came to meet high-profile supporters of the campaign such as Sir Patrick.
But her work also focuses on the informal and details of objects. A particularly striking work in the show is a macro image of a tiny glass bird and was a commission.
Huddersfield Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am until 4pm, (late night open on Thursdays until 7pm).