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
2025
Meer Magie: More Magic, Huis van het boek, The Hague, Netherlands
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
Dr Amy Hale with Emily Hunt and Charlotte Rodgers, Magic in Contemporary Art, Ep. 8 – Lecture & Discussion, Treadwells and The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Online, November 2026
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
Teaching
November 2024, upcoming May 2026
September 2023, February 2024, July 2025
Berlin Art Institute ~Summer School Course A LIBRARY OF IDEAS: The Art and Craft of Artists’ Books
August 2025