I am the subject !  

After months of research and deliberation I am driven to the conclusion that my own English identity is deep within me, symbolically at my own front door. That my own identity and that of being English is as much shaped by my own personal history as it is by the Englishness defined by any academic notions of the subject; the country its  aspects of climate, social, political and cultural history. To ignore our own personal history is to ignore not just an essential part of who we are as individuals but what makes us all collectively English. I do not deny that English nationalism exists but it is similarly difficult to deny that the nation state is not constructed by those it best profits: the politicians, the Established order, the monarchy, and the Church. Furthermore that national identity is both multi faceted and continously shifting. If i sound cynical and ambivalent it is because my own personal experiences, readings and education have ingrained within me this opinion and this in itself is perhaps a quality of being English ?

As photographers we are often outsiders looking in and therefore only expected to respond visually to what is in front of us backed up by the necessary research. During this project I have felt the burden of being on the inside looking out, having to consider those aspects of Englishness, the mass of cultural, historical, political baggage that an Englishman would necessarily take for granted and an outsider would be unaware of.

My series of images attempt to capture my feelings towards my nationality, a personal reflection of Englishness. The images are of friends, family and close aquaintances. People who continue to shape my Englishness past and present. The images nevertheless attempt to show a quintessential Englishness and in so doing ask the viewer to reflect on their own personal history as means to consider their own national identity.  

A selection of the work was  exhibited at The Custard Factory, Birmingham in December 2009

2010-05-12 21:47:10