Funny idea that this photographer had in his latest series entitled Removed… In fact, the American photographer Eric Pickersgill had the crazy idea of making a collection of photos in which he systematically removed all the smartphones that his characters were holding in their hands.
Removed by Eric Pickersgill, photos in which the phones have disappeared
Crazy idea? Not so crazy in a time when smartphones are transforming our society and relationships between people. The idea came to him one morning in a café in New York, where he observed a neighboring family. The parents and children were physically present, but they were emotionally and mentally elsewhere, absorbed in their smartphones. The stark contrast between physical proximity and emotional distance raised questions in him about the profound impact of technology on our social interactions.
Here are the observations noted by the artist:
The family sitting next to me at Illium Coffee in Troy, New York, is so disconnected from each other. No conversation. The father and two daughters have their phones out. The mother doesn’t have one or has decided to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone with her immediate family. The father occasionally looks up to talk about some obscure news story he found online. Twice he mentions catching a big fish. No one answers.
I am saddened by the use of technology for interaction that replaces the act of interacting. This has never happened before and I think we are only scratching the surface of the social impact of this new experience. The mother has now taken out her phone.
While this observation may seem a bit dramatic, it is nonetheless true that social contact is changing, increasingly through connected objects and less through direct contact. The photographer therefore decided to create several series of photos in which he magically made smartphones disappear.
To bring this idea to life, Pickersgill adopted a unique method. He asked his models to pose while using their smartphones or tablets. After freezing their pose, he delicately removes their smartphone from their hands and takes his photo. The result is a collection of photographs in which individuals appear to interact with invisible objects, highlighting the omnipresence and influence of technology in our daily lives.
The “Removed” series began in North Carolina in 2014. It has since expanded to other regions of the world, highlighting the universal impact of smartphones on social interactions. In June 2018, Pickersgill photographed in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, and Indonesia. The images from these regions reflect both cultural diversity and the common thread of smartphone influence.
The photographer then went on a tour of India, taking photographs across the country, from Delhi to Mumbai, Rishikesh, Shillong and Kolkata. The images captured in India offered another perspective on how technology is changing human interactions in different cultures and contexts.
To see all of the artist's series, visit the project page Removed.
And here is a video that explains the project:
