Instagram Takeover: Chris Hoare

Chris Hoare shares his series The Worst Poem in the Universe for his Instagram Takeover.

Chris Hoare is a photographer based in his hometown of Bristol, UK, where he also works at the Martin Parr Foundation and has just completed an MA at the University of the West of England, studying under Aaron Schuman. The city itself gave him the surroundings for his first major body of work entitled Dreamers, where he documented the cities Hip-Hop scene for 4 years, resulting in a self-published book. This unexpectedly led to Chris’s latest body of work, The Worst Poem In The Universe, which after three trips to Australia – one of which being a year long – is now being finalised as a book.

 

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I’m @chrishoarephoto and I’ll be taking over the feed for the week. Throughout my takeover I’ll be introducing you to a body of work entitled The Worst Poem In The Universe and give an insight into my rationale behind the project as I go on. My approach was never wanting to come to a conclusion on whether Australia is or isn’t a ‘Lucky Country’, instead I wanted to play with idea of ‘luck’ and search for symbols of how it can reveal itself on the surface. One obvious symbol is gold – with all the ‘lucky’ feeling’s that it conjures up. My final trip took me to the Gold Coast, which is Australia’s answer to Las Vegas – albeit very different – a place where good-luck and bad-luck cross wires. Image 1 -Charlie in his Champagne Gold Mercedes listening to his favourite band Chicago, Gold Coast, 2018. Image 2 – Gold mine, Kalgoorlie, 2017. Image 3 – Looking for gold, Kalgoorlie, 2017. #photoworks_uk #chrishoarephoto #instagramtakeover #photography

A post shared by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on Sep 16, 2019 at 8:05am PDT

 

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I’m @chrishoarephoto and I’ll be taking over the feed for the week. Throughout my takeover I’ll be introducing you to a body of work entitled The Worst Poem In The Universe and give an insight into my rationale behind the project as I go on. ‘Game Over’ tattooed on a mans hands outside a VIP section of a pub, Melbourne, 2017. #photoworks_uk #chrishoarephoto #instagramtakeover #photography

A post shared by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on Sep 17, 2019 at 11:35pm PDT

 

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I’m @chrishoarephoto and I’ll be taking over the feed for the week. Throughout my takeover I’ll be introducing you to a body of work entitled The Worst Poem In The Universe and give an insight into my rationale behind the project as I go on. It’s not hugely well-known that Australia holds all the statistics as the most prolific gambling nation, but it doesn’t take long to notice the obsession when your there. Most evidently in many of the countries pubs and bars, which are divided too accommodate a VIP section (Pokie’s – slot machines). This photograph is of Candy, who is pictured outside a Cash Converters on the Gold Coast, where she had just spent some money that she won last night on the Pokie’s. The image is one of two in the project selected for this year’s Taylor Wessing exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. #photoworks_uk #chrishoarephoto #instagramtakeover #photography

A post shared by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on Sep 17, 2019 at 12:43am PDT

 

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I’m @chrishoarephoto and I’ll be taking over the feed for the week. Throughout my takeover I’ll be introducing you to a body of work entitled The Worst Poem In The Universe and give an insight into my rationale behind the project as I go on. To begin with – in short – the project is a journey through Australia and a visual search for the countries relationship with ‘luck’ – both good and bad – whereby, it seems to have a unique affinity to it. The idea that Australia could be regarded as a ‘The Lucky Country’ was first suggested by Australian author Donald Horne in 1964, with a book titled as such. However, the book was full of irony and criticism, but the phrase has stuck and is at times used as an affirmation. The book interested me from early on and set the course for an investigation. I made three trips between 2015-2018 and recently made a book-dummy of my findings. Bushfire on the way to Broome, Western Australia, 2017. #photoworks_uk #chrishoarephoto #instagramtakeover #photography

A post shared by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on Sep 16, 2019 at 12:56am PDT

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For more Chris’s work, visit his website here.