About

Born in London in 1962, photographic artist Nick Veasey developed an interest in photography as a teenager before becoming a professional in his thirties. He worked in the advertising and design industries for the better part of a decade, focusing on conventional still photography work. It was during this time that he first used X-ray as a photographic medium when he was asked to X-ray a soda can for a TV show. While doing this, Veasey also took the opportunity to x-ray the shoes he was wearing that day and was encouraged by the positive feedback upon showing the final image to an art director. He soon decided to explore X-ray photography even further and has since worked primarily with images created from X-ray imaging.

By fusing science and art, Veasey reveals the deepest layers of his subjects and shows the unseen side of everyday objects. In today’s world that is obsessed with image, superficiality, and artifice, Veasey counters such insubstantial diversions by delving inside and discovering what things are really made of. The artist’s work can be seen as a project that harnesses and exploits modern technology to advance the boundaries of perception and art.

“I want to excite people and help them appreciate the things around them in a new way. X-ray is a very honest process, it shows things for what they are. In this superficial world, that’s quite refreshing. It shows a product or an organic thing for how it is made – the design, the ingenuity that goes into them, warts and all.”

Over the years, Veasey has created many x-ray photographs, from small everyday objects like teddy bears, ice cream cones, and flowers to large multi-component structures such as cars, buses full of passengers, and even a life-size Boeing 777 jet, and the aircraft hangar housing it.

The artist’s ethereal and fascinating works have graced galleries all over the world and been featured in international advertising campaigns and on product packaging, as well as winning several photographic and design awards.

“We live in a world obsessed with image. What we look like, what our clothes look like, houses, cars… I like to counter this obsession with superficial appearance by using x-rays to strip back the layers and show what it is like under the surface. Often the integral beauty adds intrigue to the familiar. We all make assumptions based on the external visual aspects of what surrounds us and we are attracted to people and forms that are aesthetically pleasing. I like to challenge this automatic way that we react to just physical appearance by highlighting the, often surprising, inner beauty.”
Nick Veasey