The subprime mortgage crisis, which has its roots in the closing years of the 20th century, became apparent in 2007. The crisis exposed pervasive weaknesses, as well as deep-rooted inequalities, within financial industry regulation and the global financial system.
In the winter of 2008, Edgar Martins produced a series of photographs related to the collapse of the US housing market.
He photographed abandoned homes, golf courses, ski resorts, hotels and other building projects in sixteen locations across six separate States. His interest lay in catalysing and reuniting fresh experiences of a new form of architecture by summoning a disquieting conjunction of realism and fiction. And fiction, as the writer Jacques Ranciére states is elementary to understanding the real.
This Is Not A House formed part of an assignment for the New York Times Magazine. The work became the focus of a heated debate due to Martins’ decision to digitally reshape a select few images.
Described as ‘arguably one of the most poignant pieces of work produced by a photographic artist in recent years, not only because of the relevance of it’s theme, but because of the way it propels us to reevaluate our understanding of photography and its fragile and difficult relationship with the real’, the series proposes new models for re-conceiving and conceptualizing a particularly contemporary phenomenon and landscape. It also remains a poignant reminder of the financial ruin and bankruptcy that struck the lives of many thousands of ordinary people.


Internationally recognised, Edgar Martins has received many awards for his work including the prestigious BES Photo Prize (Portugal), the inaugural New York Photography Award (Fine Art Category) in May 2008, the Terry O’Neil Award, and a Jerwood Photography Prize. More recently he was awarded a SONY World Photography Award as well as 1st Prize at the International Photography Awards (Fine Art Abstract Category). He has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the United States in institutions such as PS1 MoMA, Belém Cultural Centre, the V&A, etc. Forthcoming exhibitions include a solo show at Museuda Electricidade (Lisbon) and a touring show of This Is Not A House which is scheduled to show at The New Art Gallery, Walsall and at The Wapping Project, London, amongst other venues.
Edgar Martins was selected to represent Macau (China) at the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale.