They are not playing cards. Removed is a project by American photographer Eric Pickersgill where the pervasiveness of the cellphone is highlighted through its absence. Ordinary images in which the central object is removed and in this way the scene appears in all its absurdity.

Pickersgill comments:

Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY is so disconnected from one another. Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their own phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online. Twice he goes on about a large fish that was caught. No one replies. I am saddened by the use of technology for interaction in exchange for not interacting. This has never happened before and I doubt we have scratched the surface of the social impact of this new experience. Mom has her phone out now.

The Removed site is here, with many images.