Hannah Starkey was born in Belfast in 1971. She studied photography and film at Edinburgh’s Napier University (1992-95) and went onto study photography at the Royal College of Art in London. Her work is in collections across Europe including Tate and V&A. In 2019, Starkey was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of Tanya Bonakdar, New York and LA.
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.
Hannah Starkey’s 2022/23 exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield, In Real Life, was made possible by the Freelands Foundation through the 2019 Freelands Award. The Hepworth Wakefield was 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.
