Nick Meek /
Unreliable Memories
NOVEMBER 27, 2020 - FEBRUARY 14, 2021
De Soto Gallery presented Unreliable Memories by Nick Meek, an exhibition that explored how Hollywood's visual mythology shapes our understanding of the past and inspires visions of the future. The exhibition took place during the pandemic and was presented exclusively online on Artsy.
Growing up in Northern England in the 1970s, Meek found American movies and TV shows to be windows into a world of possibility. Even European scenes were reflected back as romanticized visions. Mid-century Populuxe and counterculture idealism left their mark, their optimism lingering even now—sharpened by the contrast of our present realities.
Meek’s style was both hazy and hyperreal, saturated with color and deliberately staged. This nostalgic aesthetic unlocked a collective longing: everything appeared shinier, happier, more intensely felt. Despite its artifice, there was a surprising emotional truth in this kind of vicarious remembering.
By mimicking the way we recall, Meek emphasized memory’s selective nature—how it is as much about forgetting as it is about preserving. His images existed in the space between past and present, real and unreal, creating a bittersweet negotiation of time and place.
In replaying these borrowed histories, Meek breathed energy into the present and opened space to reimagine the future. His rapid shifts in time and place remixed familiar narratives, inviting reflection on what’s worth carrying forward.
Nick Meek (b. 1969, Leeds, UK; based in London and Chamonix) has exhibited widely in the US and Britain. Known as a commercial director and photographer, Meek also maintains a prolific art practice. His monograph, Unreliable Memories, was published in 2022.
