From the gun used to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand to Lord Byron’s dip pen – renowned photographer Rick Guest documents extraordinary objects that have changed our history and culture in Holy Relics, to be unveiled for the first time as an exclusive guest exhibition at StART in
London this October. Rick has travelled the world to capture hyper-detailed portraits of objects that have shaped our history across three centuries – from Charles Darwin’s walking cane to the handwritten work of Dylan Thomas, to Pink
Floyd’s iconic Wish You Were Here master tape. Other highlights include the Hofner bass on which Sir Paul McCartney changed the face of music, Ernest Hemingway’s typewriter, Sir Peter Blake’s hand painted bass drumskin used on the cover of The Beatles’ 1967 masterpiece Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Sir Henry Moore’s chisels, Charles Dickens’ quill, TS Elliot’s fountain pen, and the original film cans from cinematic masterpieces such as Apocalypse Now and The
Deerhunter. Moon dust from Apollo 11, Napoleon’s hat abandoned at Waterloo, Lewis Hamilton’s F1 steering wheel from 2020, Beethoven’s death mask, Lucian Freud’s paints, the computer Tim Berners-Lee designed the world wide web on, and the table on which Jane Austen wrote Pride & Prejudice and
Sense & Sensibility also feature. Through his longstanding relationship with Abbey Road Studios, Rick has produced immaculate portraits of Abbey Road’s irresistibly iconic microphone collection – including those used by The Beatles, Pink Floyd,
Fela Kuti and Kate Bush to both define and shift culture. Composer, producer and son of Sir George Martin, Giles Martin said Rick’s collection “perfectly illustrates the role these extraordinary
microphones have played in the creation of the music we love. Historic glory, genius, and loss echo throughout this evocative and captivating collection. It is not just an assortment of objects, but a seismic collection of human stories. Guest’s portfolio presents these storied
artefacts with the reverence they deserve.