Nick Hersey - Specialists in Failure

About

Since the emergence of Western christian philosophy, our ethics, norms and values have, on the whole, been dominated by the idea that man is inherently flawed and must seek some kind of salvation. Today our Western society and it’s overarching narrative is that of the free market and its essential role in allowing us as individuals to shape and develop our lives by our own efforts and exclusively within the parameters of a consumer society. We are sold the dream, and reassured daily just how far from that ideal our humble efforts are.
 
The works developed in this exhibition are responses to the call of the neo-liberal meritocratic society that Paul Verhaeghe rallies against in his book ‘What About Me’. It records in small fragments expressions of this new market driven society, and the wider geopolitical context, one which Dominique Moisi refers to as a ‘culture of fear, hope and himiliation that is reshaping the world’.
 
Whether it is the systemic failure of large financial institutions, or the failures of individuals in politics and economics, our lives are being shaped and our opinions bent to the tune of a new reality in which not only is our society failing, but we as individuals are broken and in need of the tonic that western consumer society can offer.