Huntress with Buck

David Chancellor: Hunters

Explore the complex relationship between humans and animals through the trophy hunting industry in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Hunters explores the complex relationship between humans and animals, documenting the game hunting industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the most comprehensive exhibition in the UK of Chancellor’s work to date, including many images exhibited for the first time.



Historically a source of revenue for colonial governments, trophy hunting has now become a controversial yet major industry, taking place in 23 African countries, and generating over 200 million dollars a year.

Over a six year period, Chancellor documented the many aspects of big game hunting, gaining access into the pseudo-wilderness reserved for this unique kind of tourism, usually off-limits to outsiders. Embedded within hunting groups, Chancellor gained an insider view of the pursuit, resulting in a series of compelling and intimate portraits of hunters with their prey, as well as local workers reliant on the industry for their livelihood.

The selection for the exhibition includes Chancellor’s iconic portrait of fourteen year Josie Slaughter, Huntress with Buck, winner of the 2010 Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize. This image forms part of a wider narrative, extending to photographs of the taxidermy process and hunters’ trophy rooms. In this final series, Chancellor reveals lavish spaces adorned with souvenirs in the form of heads, hides and horns of dead animals.

Together, the meticulously detailed images offer an insight into what Chancellor describes as the ‘Wildlife Industry’, exploring issues of welfare, conservation and the ethics of an unconventional type of tourism.

A touring exhibition from INSTITUTE and David Chancellor.

Trophy Room, Dallas
Trophy Room, Dallas © David Chancellor
Huntress with Buck
Huntress with Buck, South Africa © David Chancellor
fallen giraffe, somerset east, eastern cape, South Africa
Fallen giraffe, Somerset East, Eastern Cape, South Africa © David Chancellor
Skinner with trophy zebra, south africa
Eastern Cape, South Africa © David Chancellor
Leopard and Dogs, Namibia
Leopard and Dogs, Namibia © David Chancellor

Artist

  • David Chancellor portrait

    David Chancellor

    David Chancellor (born London, 1961) is a multi award winning documentary photographer based in South Africa. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, exhibited in major galleries and museums, and published worldwide. Named Nikon Photographer of the Year three times, he received a World Press Photo Award in 2010 for Elephant Story from the series Hunters.

    Chancellor won the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize in 2010, exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery London. In 2012 he received a Sony World Photography Award (Nature and Wildlife) and Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. In 2013 he received the World Understanding Award in the Pictures of the Year International competition; the Kuala Lumpur International Photo Award for portraiture; the Vienna International Photo Award for documentary photography; and the Kontinent Award for documentary photography. He is represented by INSTITUTE.
 www.davidchancellor.com

Installation View, Hunters

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