This picture is from my photobook Unreal City. Ashtead, Surrey. In this picture the path leading to the station in a commuter belt village looks like a conveyor belt shifting anonymous figures (the undead? golems? automatons?) to the City. Perhaps the golem idea is most helpful, as it explains how one’s life is lived according to someone else’s script – the employer’s – and supports Perry’s remark concerning the “prevailing fluent emptiness of purpose in the commuting traffic.” Monotony is certainly an element in the story here, but so is what psychologists call “depersonalization/derealizatio ..read more

Last year (2022) marked the centenary of the first publication of possibly the greatest poem of the 20th Century: T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. My photobook Unreal City is a kind of photographic conversation with Eliot’s masterpiece, with London as the key focus (in Eliot’s poem, London is the “Unreal City”). The book was printed just before the Covid pandemic started, and so marks an interesting turning point in the history of the city. Below is an extract from the Introduction to the book, which I wrote in 2019. London is many things to many people. To those for whom money is no object it can ..read more

We had an absolutely fantastic book launch at Bonhams, with the wine reception generously sponsored by Denbies Wine Estate. Speeches by Matthew Haley (Head of Books at Bonhams), Bernard O’Donoghue (Whitbread Award Winning Faber Poet), Laura Noble (London Gallerist), Adriaan van Heerden and Tas Zembashis (of Denbies). With special guest Mel Gaynor (of Simple Minds and RISK), and fantastic help from students at London South Bank University Business School. The post “Unreal City” Book Launch at Bonhams on 2 December appeared first on Adriaan van Heerden Photography ..read more

I’m delighted that my “Unreal City” project is being featured in the December 2019 issue of Geographical Magazine (the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society). You can download a PDF of the feature >> here << The post “Unreal City” featured in Geographical Magazine December 2019 appeared first on Adriaan van Heerden Photography ..read more

I’m extremely pleased to say that my picture “What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?” (from my “Unreal City” collection) has been shortlisted for the ArtGemini International Art Prize 2019! That’s five years in a row that I’ve been shortlisted for this Prize (with first prize in 2015 and highly commended in 2017). The finalists’ exhibition will take place at the 5 star Fullerton Hotel in Singapore from 9-15 November, with another exhibition to follow in London in March 2020. The post Adriaan shortlisted for ArtGemini International Art Prize 2019! appeared first on Adriaan van Heerden ..read more

We had a wonderful event at City Hall in London on 30th May, to raise awareness of homelessness in London. The event was attended by many special guests: Bernard O’Donoghue, Vanessa Champion, Jacques Coetzee, Leee John, Heather Small, Tony Moore, Leroy Logan MBE, Jenny Roberts (Founder of Homeless Worldwide), Patricia Lewis, Ron Brand (Russell Brand’s dad), Rara Plumtre (Founder of Tutus House), Councillor Peter Chand (The Mayor of Barking and Dagenham), Maddie Henson (the Deputy Mayor of Croydon), celebrity chef Oliver Durnford, and many others. The post “Unreal City” Charity Event a ..read more

We had a great launch for my Unreal City project at Dirty Martini in Tower Bridge. Special guests included Leee John (of Imagination), Mel Gaynor (of Simple Minds), Leroy Logan MBE, Cheri Class MBE, Laura Noble, Glenn Bracke and Andrew Dismore of the London Assembly.     The post “Unreal City” Project Launch March 2019 appeared first on Adriaan van Heerden Photography ..read more

I’m very pleased to say that Unreal City was featured in The London Magazine in January and also in the latest (March) edition of Time & Leisure Magazine. You can read my interview for The London Magazine HERE and you can download a PDF of my interview for Time and Leisure Magazine HERE. The post “Unreal City” featured in The London Magazine and Time and Leisure Magazine appeared first on Adriaan van Heerden Photography ..read more

I’m very pleased to say that the two pictures I submitted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2018 have both made it through to the next round! Both pictures are from my new photobook project, Unreal City, which will be launched later this year. The book takes the form of a photographic conversation with “The Waste Land”, T.S. Eliot’s modernist poetic masterpiece. Unreal City comprises 85 photographs which present London as if it were the waste land. The book reflects many of the themes of the poem: a feeling of alienation between individuals and their environment; the failure of people to connect to ..read more

I’m really pleased to say that one of my pictures has been shortlisted for the ArtGemini International Art Prize 2018. That’s four years in a row! Entitled “Winter kept us warm”, the picture evokes a sense of isolation and alienation, but also of voyeurism: the woman in the window spies on passing pedestrians, and we spy on her as we happen to walk by. The picture is part of a photobook project entitled “Unreal City”, which in essence is a visual (photographic) conversation with “The Waste Land”, T.S. Eliot’s modernist poetic masterpiece. Inspired to some extent by the “Elmet” project (a colla ..read more