Leica Artist Talk with Zed Nelson
Guns, Beauty, and the commodification of Nature
A deep dive into three award-winning projects that explore contemporary culture.
Zed Nelson will lead us through his best-known book projects, giving insights into how and why he produces his long-term projects that interrogate human society.
Zed Nelson’s recent work, The Anthropocene Illusion (currently exhibited at Rotlicht) examines how we are retreating into increasingly artificial, stage-managed environments, to mask our destructive human impact on the natural world.
Previous books include ‘Love Me’ – a study of the insidious power of the global beauty industry, ‘A Portrait of Hackney’ - about rampant gentrification in London, and Nelson’s seminal project, ‘Gun Nation’ - which exploded the myths underpinning American gun culture.
These projects have received numerous photography awards, including First Prize in the World Press Photo Competition, the Visa d’Or (France), and the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award (USA). Nelson was recently named Photographer of the Year at the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards 2025.
