English cultural identity within the context of the insider andoutsider photographer

Photography is one of the creative mediums that can be used to communicate ideas between the photographer and the viewer. As much as it will sound as a cliché but most of the times a photograph can be more informative than words. As Pardo and Parr (2016: 10) suggest, “Photography has an unparalleled capacity to reflect and communicate ideas, visually and directly, about the world in which we live.” Thus, photography becomes an instrument which creates a connection between practitioner and the subject allowing to express artist’s thoughts in a creative visual way to share across the public viewer. Photography is one of the visual art mediums, which can be used to draw communities’ attention on the specific subject matter, which in the case of this thesis is English cultural identity.

By using underlying understanding of identity and cultural identity, this paper will examine English cultural identity and representations of this within the photographic practice of Simon Roberts, Martin Parr and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen. Attention will be drawn towards Simon Roberts’s ‘We English’, Martin Parr’s ‘Think of England’ and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s ‘Byker’ and ‘Byker Revisited’ projects in order to explore plural visions of England from the perspective of insider and outsider photographers. Likewise, this paper will outline and critically analyze author’s practical side of this thesis where it will be essential to compare with Konttinens’ outsider position as well as to describe decision of using chosen photographic process compared to Simon Roberts.