Spanning over a decade of cultural transformation, "REMOVED: elsewhere, everywhere, nowhere" is a photographic and personal reflection on the profound shifts in human presence, intimacy, and attention in the age of the smartphone.
My latest feature in Vanity Fair Italia pairs my photographic work with a powerful essay by Giacomo Papi, exploring how our relationship with technology mirrors age-old rituals and anxieties. From dopamine-driven screen time to cultural shifts in presence and attention, this piece invites deeper reflection on the digital age. Special thanks to Julie Grahame, Rick Wester Fine Art, and Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia, this is a milestone I’m proud to share.
I’m thrilled to share that Angie and I have started Pecan Print House, a family-run business inspired by my artistic practice and our family’s needs. We’ve created 2025-2026 Academic Continuous Calendars and Yearly Continuous Calendars to help families and students stay organized without constantly turning to their phones.
Each calendar is thoughtfully designed with signature gradient colors, printed on premium matte paper that feels amazing to write on. They’re functional, stylish, and large enough to actually use—perfect for homes, dorms, and offices.
As we head into graduation season, these calendars make incredible Class of 2025 gifts or dorm essentials for new college students. Find them in our Etsy shop at www.pecanprinthouse.com, and if you have ideas for local or national vendors, we’d love to hear from you!
I’m excited to invite you to the opening reception of REMOVED, RENEWED at the SoRA Sanctuary Gallery, an exhibition space at the Strother School of Radical Attention. Curated by Federica Soletta, this exhibition brings together a body of work that I’m proud to share.
The reception will take place this Saturday from 5 PM to 7 PM, with light refreshments available. If you’re in NYC, I’d love for you to come by and experience the show.
55 Washington St, Ste 736 Brooklyn, NY 11203
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/1NCmBX6gNNVYr8PS6 #art #nyc #exhibition
I’ll also be announcing dates for an artist talk soon, so stay tuned. Looking forward to seeing you at the gallery!
Can you believe that there are things posted to social media that are not real?! I recently had a conversation with my hilarious friends Jen Jamula and Allison Goldberg on their show 2 Girls 1 Podcast about my ongoing project NOSHOW where I attend fake Facebook events to see who actually turns up.
You can listen to the episode here - https://www.dailydot.com/…/fake-facebook-events-2-girls-1-…/
Shout out to Matt Silverman for some his serious production skills.#2G1P #noshow #removed #area51 The Daily Dot
I finally received my copy of of Wireltern magazine where Removed is used to illustrate a story about how parents are interacting with smartphones while parenting and how that alters their relationship. Its certainly worth the quick read!
https://www.wireltern.ch/artikel/erziehung-mediennutzung-eltern-0519
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In the early spring of 2016, amidst the media blitz of the 2016 Presidential Election, I noticed something very strange happening online. All across the United States, Facebook users, some real some fake, were creating event invitations for obscure and hard to believe public concerts in unlikely places. The first to catch my attention was “Fred Durst LIVE at Rose's Department Store”. Thousands had RSVP’d and many commented, shared, and argued about the veracity of the event. I knew I needed to show up. The day of the event I made portraits of the those who showed up. The fake event sparked a several months journey for me as I attended dozens more of these events across the country that summer. The project as I could sense was touching on one of the real world examples of how the uncharted territory of social media was falsely shifting peoples opinions, beliefs and even actions. More of the series NoShow can be viewed here.
The day before the 2016 Presidential election I was interviewed on the BBC’s technology program Click and months later the project was introduced as a major solo exhibition in Merignac France for the Merignac Photographic Festival in 2017.
Most recently, one of the images from NoShow was selected for a group exhibition here in my home state. I am excited that the photograph “Hoods Up, 2016” will be on display in large format for the 5th Edition of EYES on MAIN Street in Wilson, NC. The festival officially opens April 27th, 2019 and I’m so excited to be showing at this exhibition once again.
Hoods Up, 2016 / Morganton, NC
So much exciting news that only some of it will fit in this update. Here are the happenings from last winter to now, from India, to Switzerland, to Vietnam and back again. The biggest and most current news is that Thursday I will travel to Vietnam for an exhibition of new "Removed" photographs that were supported by The World Economic Forum. More information on that and much much more below! As always thank you so much for your support. Huge things are happening and I am trying to be better at keeping you up to date with all of it.
Collect
I am incredibly fortunate to be working with Rick Wester Fine Art who has now made my work available online via ARTSY. Please support my practice and my family by collecting my prints.
Exhibitions - Current and Past
Here I Live / Media Congress
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia
NoShow - Merignac Photographic Festival
Merignac, France
I have been waiting for, and working on this exhibition all year! I met the prolific curator Francois Cheval while in Lianzhou, China last fall. When I told him about NoShow he was immediately enthusiastic about bringing the project to France. This will be my first major solo exhibition in Europe and will include photographs, video, audio, and sculpture. More information about the series can be found here. The exhibition ran from early October to mid December 2017.
Hello, Robot. Design Between Human and Machine
Design Museum Gent
Three pieces from Removed are still on their journey around the world as part of the exhibition, Hello, Robot. Design Between Man and Machine. The five year tour began at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, it was later installed at Design Museum Gent in Belgium and is currently on display at the Switzerland based museum Gewerbemuseum Winterthur.
INTERFACE
neo:gallery / Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK
Eyes on Main Street
Wilson, NC
Last year I helped with the student gallery and workshops for the kids of Wilson to create an exhibition of their work. This year I was asked to be one of the 100 participating artists in the Eyes on Main Street Wilson Outdoor Photo Festival. My photograph "Jamie, Jody, and Aiden, 2014" was selected this year and was on exhibit in downtown Wilson, NC from April until August. I will have work from my NoShow series in next years festival.
"Every day we encounter family members, friends, visitors, and strangers; over the course of our lives, our social circle continues to expand. Modern technology makes us feel more connected than ever, allowing us to “meet” endless friends at any time through our screens and to feel like we are never alone. Is this true? This exhibition uses artworks to examine the changing social landscape of the virtual age, illuminating the importance of real relationships in our lives. Visitors are invited to witness encounters – from their first moments to their eventual conclusion – and rediscover the value of face-to-face encounters. Such meetings present invaluable opportunities to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the other, and therefore of ourselves."
Curator: Shir Meller-Yamaguchi
DIAPOSITIVE
CASSILHAUS, Chapel Hill, NC
Several pieces from my Holder Series are currently on display at Cassilhaus as part of the group exhibition Diapositive. The exhibition will be up during the Click! Photography Festival and I will give a shared artist talk with the incredibly hardworking and prolific artist and friend of mine, Amy Herman on October 17th, 2018. Information to RSVP for the event is listed both on the Click! and Cassilhaus website.
Upcoming Exhibitions
The World Economic Forum recently reached out to me with the idea of creating new Removed photographs that would represent a glimpse into digital culture across Southeast Asia. In June I spent several weeks photographing across Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, and Indonesia. On September 11th, 2018 a selection of the photographs will be revealed at The World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2018 Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam where I will engage with economic leaders on the topics surrounding my work. I'm very excited about the new photographs and can't wait to see where they end up after the summit.
Collaborations
tlkn™
Mumbai, Kolkata, Shillong, Rishikesh, New Delhi, India
Last November I travelled all across India with the film maker Jessica Sadana and her amazing crew creating Removed photographs and interviewing dozens of people. Our journey was recorded and is now being finalized as a short documentary film which will be released in the next few months. Please keep an eye out for that. I think it will be a film as moving as the photographs I made.
Workshops
The amazing photo consultant and my lovely agent, Julie Grahame and I will be heading down to Georgia for a workshop on our professional best practices and I'm sure some insight to the horror stories as well. It should be a really fun time together. Sign up if you are in the area!
For editorial and media requests contact Julie Grahame
For print / exhibition inquiries contact Rick Wester Fine Art
I am currently available for editorial assignment and speaking engagements, please contact for booking information.
www.ericpickersgill.com
www.removed.social
www.noshow.social
Below are photographs from my exhibition of the project NoShow at the Merignac Photographic Festival in Merignac, France. The exhibition took place at the Médiathèque in the center of the city. I was thrilled to be able to attend the festival, spend more time with Francois Cheval as well as the additional exhibiting artists and the hundreds of wonderful people who supported the festival.
Photographs by Sébastien Sindeu
Here is an interview with me that the festival put together about my thoughts on photography and the exhibition.
Interview Erick Pickersgill - Mérignac Photographic Festival 2017Les faux évènements Facebook, vous connaissez ? Eric Pickersgill, l'un des artistes du Mérignac Photographic Festival, les as traqués et vous présente son travail à la Médiathèque jusqu'au 17 décembre à travers l'exposition photo "No Show". #MPF2017
Posted by Mérignac on Friday, November 24, 2017
I had the pleasure of speaking with Semana Magazine in Columbia this week. Excited to be sharing the printed version with the pope right now.