David Shepherd Artist

All Metals Removed (with Jack Nelson), Custard Factory, Birmingham, Feb 2012

About David Shepherd

David Shepherd is a Staffordshire-based artist working predominantly with lens-based media.

After developing an interest in photography during his mid-twenties, David made the decision to enrol in a degree programme at the University of Wolverhampton, where he is currently in his final year.

David has developed a strong practice, operating solely with analogue cameras and traditional printing processes. His work often revolves around the representation of space: dealing with themes such as the trace and ownership of land, whilst simultaneously blending elements of history and memory. He has exhibited as part of both solo and group shows in and around the West-Midlands.

In his spare time David works as a curator at a small photographic gallery in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter.

David was born in Wolverhampton in 1984.

Each object pictured was recovered from a stretch of Black Country canal using rope and a powerful Magnet. The aim of this was to forge an interaction with a place known for its industrial heritage.

However, many of the objects pertain to other subjects: such as loss, identity and crime. Therefore, what began as a historical project, quickly evolved into one of social documentary.

To photograph and to present the objects in such a manner provokes us to question their origins: their former uses and how it was they came to be discarded.