Martin Roemers presented at Kunsthal Rotterdam is a man of his time: a traveler, an observer, a photographer captivated by modern life. A truly mobile man, he has traveled around the world to capture the fascinating relationship between humans and their automobiles. The result is a remarkable collection of portraits that reveal as much about people as they do about their machines. From the shores of the North Sea to the streets of Senegal, from the avenues of Bengaluru to the highways of California, Roemers shows us how deeply inprinted the automobile has become in human identity. Each photograph is taken in front of a simple white backdrop, sometimes stretched between trees, sometimes hung from a balcony, isolating the subject(s) from the noise of their environment. Against this neutral canvas, the person(s) and the vehicle stand together, like partners in a shared story. We meet individuals by name, along with their car or motorbike, and often a glimpse of their daily activity or emotional connection to it. What emerges is a universal truth: the car is more than a means of transportation. It is an extension of the self, a symbol of independence, pride, or aspiration. Whether it is a posh Mercedes or a weathered old Peugeot patched together from spare parts, the bond between human and machine is strong. In Roemers’ large-scale photographs, we see not just cars and their owners, but a portrait of the modern world, where mobility defines identity, and where every vehicle becomes a mirror reflecting the person behind the wheel. From the person to l’umano mobile, homo mobilis.
