Artist Mike Nelson: from cannabis to caravans

2010: Mike Nelson is currently showing at the 303 Gallery in New York. For this work, Quiver of Arrows, the artist welded together four vintage Airstream caravans, creating a compressed, dilapidated space in which to reflect on the American Dream ...
Photograph: 303 Gallery, New York

The Airstream was an upmarket brand in a market doomed to the trailer parks. As such, according to the artist, it marks the 'the end of certain idea of a dream'
Photograph: 303 Gallery, New York

Dating from between 1939 and 1968, the caravans contain all their original appliances. Nelson has added some decoration and infused the interior with a pervading smell of cinnamon
Photograph: 303 Gallery, New York

Nelson explains that he is aiming for a sense of emptiness – or 'a sense of abandonment'
Photograph: 303 Gallery, New York

2007: This otherwordly installation has Nelson's longest title yet: Amnesiac Shrine, or The Misplacement (a Futurological Fable): Mirrored Cubes – Inverted – With the Reflection of an Inner Psyche as Represented by a Metaphorical Landscape
Photograph: David Lambert & Rod Tidnam/Tate

The Amnesiacs are a fictitious group of bikers, veterans from the first Gulf war, who have occasionally provided Nelson with inspiration for his artworks. Here, he has built them a shrine
Photograph: David Lambert & Rod Tidnam/Tate

Amnesiac Shrine was nominated for the 2007 Turner prize
Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

2006: Mirror Infill at the Frieze Art fair in London. Expanding on one of his favourite motifs, that of the photography darkroom, Nelson created a photo lab installation that reflected the festival's commercial environment
Photograph: Matts Gallery, London

2005: For this installation, Spanning Fort Road and Mansion Street – Between a Formula and a Code, Nelson transformed an abandoned building in the seaside town of Margate into a cannabis farm, complete with hydroponics and spindly young plants
Photograph: Matts Gallery, London

The artist in his studio
Photograph: Eamonn McCabe