20x200

Shopping Totem by David Welch

Down-and-up-and-down-again greetings, collectors! Today's edition-maker, former economist David Welch, is someone who'd know all about the yo-yo-ing and volatile nature of the economy. While we're releasing Shopping Totem in celebration of Hey, Hot Shot!—our biannual international photography competition—and all of the good work we're seeing there this year, it's also serendipitously appropriate.

With a considerable number of outstanding Hey, Hot Shot! submissions received this year, we've been scurrying to fast-track new photography editions and bring them to you, stat! David's consumer-minded series, Material World, which today's edition comes from, had been getting a lot of traction on the interwebs, both before and after we blogged about his entry.

David's work instantly reminded me of good friends Kate Bingaman-Burt and Michelle Muldrow, whose editions also challenge the nature of consumerism and consumption. As David writes in his statement, "The photographs speak of accumulation and materiality and aim to encourage debate about consumption and the ways in which we feel compelled to consume." (On another related note: There's a new paradigm in this post-recession world, the Los Angeles Times declared in their weekend edition, and affordable art is the new reality.)

Be sure to sign up for the HHS! newsletter if you're a photographer or want to stay up to date on the competition and all the great work we're seeing there. As always, stay tuned here for the inside scoop on what we're cooking up at 20x200—there's lots of good stuff as of late that we've been tight-lipped about. Keep an eye on your inbox!

— Jen