Black British.Photography

I found Professor Paul Gilroy’s book to be a very informative, elegant and intriguing visual portrayal of the arrival of Empire Windrush, the mass immigration of Afro-Caribbeans in 1948 and the time that ensued for the newly Black British arrivals and their descendants.  I found it surprising and disappointing, however, that Gilroy overlooked the subsequent influx of Africans and thus the changing face of Black Britain. In addition, Gilroy seemingly focuses on Black British personalities / celebrities towards the end of the book, as if the subtle message he was sending is that Black British people (notably of Carribbean origin) had ‘made it’. Or perhaps I misread his intentions?

Black British style and fashion is captured in Seen Black UK Style by Jake Cunningham and Steve Lazarides. In the foreword, the authors explain the origins of Seen to be the, um, unseen wealth of images they had amassed over 4 decades (1970′s to 2000′s), documenting the lives of Black British subcultures both by known and unknown photographers (an attribute which I think enhances its rich flavour). Notably the images bear a sharp contrast to Gilroy’s 1940′s images of Carribbean people docking in the ‘small island’ in their Sunday best. The authors go on to state how largely under-represented and unacknowledged youth subcultures can become nationally and even internationally influential movements that reinvent the mainstream. Each sub-section of photos is introduced with text that contextualises the images; vividly capturing the mood and happenings of said era, pulling in and intimately encapsulating the observer into a world that may or may not have belonged to them. The non-chronologically ordered images add to the richness of the book and capture the complexities and evolution of Black British experiences and identity. A gem to keep going back to.