Photography Exhibition: David Welch

Roman Road Project Space is delighted to host the first solo-show of David Welch, American photographer, in London. The exhibition presents a selection of twelve large format photographs and two sculptures from his on-going series Material World.

With this series Welch presents to us a thought-provoking project that takes influence from Karl Marx’s theory of ‘Objectification’, a concept that considers humankind’s relationship to materially existing forms. For Marx, ‘objectification’ is the process through which individuals externalize themselves through the objects they produce. These forms in turn help us to progress as human beings and acts as symbols for self-understanding and reflection.

In our contemporary world however a small minority of people control the means of production. Individuals are therefore forced to objectify themselves through the goods made available to them, which are nowadays mass-produced and in the form of consumer commodities.

Following Marx’s concept, Welch’s self-constructed totems of modern-day materially existing objects serve to convey our contemporary social biography. Using large-format photography, the assemblages are subsequently preserved within his images. The photographs then serve and remain as emblematic mirrors for our contemplation.

By creating and photographing larger-than-life totems of toys, televisions, clothing, cars and other mass- produced commodities Welch’s Material World series exposes and emphasizes the material world we live in. His photographs speak of accumulation and mass-consumption and reflect our contemporary consumer milieu, leaving us to question: why do we feel compelled to consume?