“We English” by Simon Roberts reviewed by Francis Hodgson
November 22nd, 2011 by dmb media
“Roberts made a road trip around Britain looking at leisure in the countryside. It’s an industry that has boomed as more of us have had more time on our hands. His distant models include such photographers as Benjamin Stone, but there is a whole written canon of non-photographic surveys of the English which dates back to Celia Fiennes in which this project takes its place, too. His direct model is probably Paul Graham, whose A1 was among the early surveys of British life to be done in colour. Graham was openly shocked by the direct outcome of specific political decisions. Roberts is much more ambivalent. He sees land use changing (in such things as an inland beach made on a former gravel pit, or a roller coaster rising in lunatic arabesques above flat fens) and he sees the massive dependence on the car to get people out into the country. But he also sees enthusiasm and patience and a deep-respect for tradition. Just as the changing sociology is made of many strands, Roberts’ pictures resist a single reading.”
Read more here: http://francishodgson.com/
See more of Simon’s work here: http://dmbmedia.co.uk/artists/simon-roberts/photography/we-english/
