Emily Hunt’s artistic practice critically engages with the historical and cultural significance of ornament and grotesque imagery as vehicles for subversion and transgression. Her ongoing research focuses on Renaissance print media, particularly the occult philosophy of this period and its relationship to grotesque ornament and Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of the carnivalesque.

 

Through drawing, painting, etching, and ceramics, Hunt investigates the visual technology of magic in its symbolic form and how it shares a lineage with ornamental forms. She examines how these visual languages—such as the carnivalesque, ornament, and magical practice—reflect societal attitudes, transgressive behaviours, and esoteric traditions. She is interested in how these three positions overlap and allow for a rapture or ecstatic moment. Her research is concerned with the influence of magical and occult philosophy on visual culture. She creates tools such as rings and marionettes to open up spaces where art and magic can enter into conversation.

 

Solo Exhibitions

2026

Huis van het Boek, The Hague, Netherlands (upcoming)

2025

Ecstasy, Sim Smith, London

2024

The Grotto, The Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia

2023

Crystal Radio Geist, Sim Smith, London

2021   

Job Center. Aufgeladene Orte. Psychic Places, Galerie Wedding, Berlin, Germany

The Machine Elves’ Shoes, Sonneundsolche, Düsseldorf, Germany               

2020

Sand Play, KNULP Gallery Sydney, Australia

2017

Bad Ems, The Commercial Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2015

Das schwerste Gewicht, Chapter House Lane, Melbourne, Australia

The Nose Dance at Fool’s Town, Fisher Library, University of Sydney, Australia

Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, The Commercial, Sydney, Australia

2013

Soiled, The Commercial Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2009   

The Meister of New Holland, Ratskeller Litchenberg, Berlin, Germany      

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025

Dreamlandia, Sim Smith, London, UK

2024

Emily Hunt & Tim Garwood, Sim Smith, NADA New York, USA

HEX, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen, Germany. Curated by Axel Städter

2022   

Existing Otherwise – The Future of Coexistence, SCCA, Tamale, Ghana. Curated by Ibrahim Mahama & Solvej Helweg Ovesen

High Weirdness  Solaris Project Space. Curated by Gosia Lehmann

Aliens are Temporary, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin. Curated Sylvia Sadzinski, Sonia Fernández Pan & Anaïs Senli

Sugar & Salt, Galeria Monopol, Warsaw Poland. Curated by Marcelina Grześkiewicz and Franciszek Smoręda

2021  

Loss and Found, Zero Fold, Köln, Germany. Curated by Lisa Klosterkötter

Antireality Perversion Void, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand. Curated by Jess Johnson

2020   

disturbance:witch, Zitadelle Spandau Museum, Berlin Germany. Curated by Alba D'Urbano & Olga Vostretsova   

Sirene ~ Goldrausch, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

New Raw Green, Sim Smith Gallery, London, UK. Curated by David Surman

From my Window – Together in Art, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia

2019  

The Abyss: Strategies in contemporary art, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia. Curated by Naomi Evans

Etwas kam auf uns zu. Something was coming upon us. Englische Straße 29, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany. Organisiert von Dagmara Genda

Second Sight: Witchcraft, Ritual, Power. UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia

MODEL, Murray White Room, Melbourne, Australia

2018   

Siteworks 2018 – MICRO, Bundanon Trust, Australia. Curated by Deborah Ely

It takes time, it’s risky, it might last forever. Es dauert. Es ist riskant. Es bleibt womöglich für immer. Arp Museum, Remagen, Germany. Bahnhof Rolandseck & Pirmasens Forum Alte Post Germany

2016   

Weird Ceramics, Gippsland Art Museum. Sale, Victoria, Australia

The Mnemonic Mirror, UTS Gallery & Griffith Univeristy Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia. Curated by Kylie Banyard

OVERUNDERSIDEWAYSDOWN, Manly Art Gallery & The Australian Ceramics Association, Manly, Australia. Curated by Glenn Barkley.

2015   

National Self-Portrait Prize 2015, UQ Art Museum, Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia

NSW Emerging Artist Travel Fellowship, Artspace, Woolloomooloo, Australia

Sydney Contemporary group show, Sydney Contemporary 2015, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia

2014    

Primavera, curated by Mikala Dwyer, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia

Mind the Gap - Train Model Exhibition, Casula Powerhouse, Casula, Australia

Sideshow, curated by Isobel Parker Phillips, UTS Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Glazed & Confused, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Gymea, Australia

2013   

Two Dollar Pareidolia - Tinsheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

 

Education

2012

Masters of Fine Arts, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney

2011

Erasmus exchange scholarship to Sint-Lucas Beeldende Kunst Gent, Belgium

2003

BA (Hons), Visual Arts, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney

 

Awards and Residences

2022  

Artist Residency Scholarship. 1646, The Hague

Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Scholarship, Sydney University

2021  

Small Project Grants (Quick Response) for SCCA, Ghana through CreateNSW

2020  

Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt Participant 

Arts Projects for Individuals Grant, Australia Council for the Arts

2018  

NSW Artists Grant NAVA

2017  

Fellowship at Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems Germany

Mentorship with Ajay Sharma Jaipur, India

Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant

2015  

National Self Portrait Prize, UQ Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane (finalist)

NSW Visual Arts Fellowship (Emerging), Artspace, Sydney (finalist)

Marten Bequest Scholarship for Painting

2014  

New Work Grant (emerging), Australia Council for the Arts

2013  

Studio Residency at the Centre for Ceramics Pankow. Berlin, Germany

2010-2011

Australian Post-Graduate Award Scholarship

 

Bibliography

2017   

Melissa Loughnan, Australiana to Zeitgeist: An A-Z of Contemporary Australian Art. Thames & Hudson 2017 pp. 34-35 & cover

2016   

Sammy Preston, ‘Forecast Emily Hunt’, Vault, Issue 14, May 2016, pp. 124-127

“OVERUNDERSIDEWAYSDOWN”, The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 55, No.1

Emily Hunt & Raquel Caballero, “Vogue & Bogue” Sturgeon Magazine, Issue 5, May 2016, pp. 70-80

Isobel Parker Phillips, ‘The Mnemonic Mirror’, exh. cat., UTS Gallery, Sydney

2015   

‘Here today, tomorrow next week!: A ceramics roundtable by Glenn Barkley’, Art Monthly Australia Issue 281, July 2015.

2014   

Mikala Dwyer, ‘Primavera 2014: Young Australian Artists’, exh. cat., The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

 

Talks

Emily Hunt and Cora Wöllenstein, 'Dreamlandia', Opening Performance, Sim Smith, London, UK, June 2025

Emily Hunt 'Ecstasy', Artist Talk with Jennifer Higgie, Sim Smith, London, UK, May 2025

Emily Hunt 'The Grotto', Artist Talk and Performance, The Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia, June 2024

Emily Hunt 'Crystal Radio Geist', Artist Talk with India Rakusen, Sim Smith, London, UK, October 2023