We are thrilled to announce that Martin Brent’s series Fast Food is being exhibited at the RBSA Gallery, Birmingham. Founded over 200 years ago, the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists is one of the UK’s oldest artist-led societies, and it’s a real honour for Martin to have been invited to show his work there.

Fast Food builds on Martin Brent’s award winning project Inbetween Places, which explores how land and geography are often tied to ideas of identity and belonging. Borders, monuments, and national landmarks can become ways of saying “this is ours,” even when their history tells a more complex story.

At the same time, global brands and the infrastructure that supports them have made many parts of the world start to feel visually alike. From fast-food outlets to coffee chains and supermarkets, familiar sights can appear almost anywhere—sometimes blending in so well that we hardly notice them, and the unique character of a place can start to fade into the background.

In Fast Food, Brent takes this idea further, imagining fast-food restaurants, vending machines, and burger joints appearing in untouched, remote landscapes. Every element in the images is real—no AI—The question is: would we notice if they were out of place, or have we become so used to seeing the same things everywhere that they almost belong?