Professor Jack Loman, director of the Museum of London unveiled last night a new commission of photographic portraits by London based photographer Tom Hunter.

The commission anticipated the opening of the new Galleries of Modern London, which will open to the public in 2010.

For each one of the images Hunter created a unique series of portraits, which Loman referred to, in his opening speech as ‘painting photographs’. Hunter has playfully injected a bit of chaos into history, mixing up time periods with mismatched objects from other eras. The result is an uncanny kaleidoscope of historical references, which feel freed up by Hunter from any historical constraints.

Michael Hoffman & Ford Car © Tom Hunter

‘In these portraits I wanted to convey the freedom to travel in time, as you would do when you walk through the Museum itself. But unlike the Museum, which sets out to make sense of history, I set out to confuse by creating surprising portraits that steal from different times and fashions’.

Gail Symington & Vespa © Tom Hunter

Hunter juxtaposed modern London icons like the Vespa scooter with a Museum designer dressed in a 1770s ‘panier’ dress. The intensity of Hunter’s images and his control of lighting bring to mind the Flemish school of painting.

Rob Payton & Victorian Shop © Tom Hunter

It was 1995 when the museum first spotted Hunter’s young talent and acquired ‘The Ghetto’, an extraordinary recreation of Hackney terrace squats, made while he was a student at London College of Printing. He then went on to win the prestigious John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award in 1998, after graduating from the RCA.

The Galleries of Modern London, part of a £20 million project, are the Museum’s most significant investment since opening in 1976, and will dramatically transform the Museum in 2010.

Flashback is at the Museum of London from 13 May 2009 until March 2010