The Fifth Generation

Esther Gabrielle Kersley’s The Fifth Generation looks into modern-day conspiracy theories linking 5G technology with the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in the vandalism of at least 100 phone masts in 2020. Conspiracy theories, which thrive in times of uncertainty and have been linked to extremism, have now entered the mainstream. As Kersley explains, ‘their prevalence is a symbol of our so-called “post-truth society”, characterised by a lack of agreement over the nature of truth’.

Mirroring the rehash culture of conspiracy theories and the internet more broadly, for The Fifth Generation Kersley employed montage and appropriation, combining found footage from the web, social media text exchanges and official reports with her own photography to interweave various perspectives – both true and untrue. Via this abstract and poetic approach, she sheds light on the shifting boundaries between fact and fiction in an increasingly image- and information-saturated world.