Hannah Starkey: In Real Life

Throughout her career, Starkey’s meticulously choreographed photographs have determinedly engaged with how women are represented in contemporary culture, an issue which is now centre stage.

Starkey reveals women in moments of private reflection, alienation or social interaction that might otherwise go unseen: a woman fleetingly fascinated by another woman’s reflection, or the attentive gaze of a mother carrying her child. Meanwhile, the large scale of her images suggests the recording of a monumental event. She is also witness to the powerful presence of women in our cities, from those she encountered growing up in Belfast to women and girls at recent street protests in London. On display will be photographs from Starkey’s graduation show in 1997 that immediately brought her widespread acclaim, through to a newly commissioned body of work created with young women in Wakefield in 2022.

As part of this project, Starkey worked with a group of early career female and non-binary photographers born or based in Yorkshire to consider the issues facing emerging practitioners and support the development of their work. This will result in an exhibition at The Art House, entitled Reframing, Reclaiming running from 21 October 2022 – 8 January 2023.

Out of their conversations, concepts for images for the Wakefield commission were realised. Starkey worked closely with female students from Wakefield’s CAPA performing arts school – a flagship institution providing opportunities for young people in the region – to produce four major new works taken in locations across in Wakefield.

‘For more than 20 years, Belfast-born Hannah Starkey’s artfully constructed portraits have captured the gestures of everyday female experience.’ The Guardian

‘Driven by familiar narratives, Hannah stages everyday moments with precision and skill; taking the quotidian, re-enacting and editing it according to her own vision.’ It’s Nice That

Hannah Starkey’s exhibition is made possible by the Freelands Foundation through the 2019 Freelands Award. The Hepworth Wakefield is the fourth recipient of the annual £100,000 Freelands Award, established in 2016 to enable a regional arts organisation to present a large-scale exhibition by a mid-career female artist, including the creation of a major new body of work.