Invisible Britain: Portraits of Hope and Resilience reveals I N V untold stories from people who have been left out of the I S media narrative and left behind by government policy. IB L Featuring the work of award-winning and accomplished E B documentary photographers, the book presents people R I speaking in their own words to create a narrative that T A I illustrates how an unprecedented world of austerity, N P deindustrialisation and social upheaval is affecting us all. O R T R A I T INVISIBLE BRITAIN S O “T his book illustrates a truth we cannot ignore.” F H PORTRAITS OF HOPE O P KEN LOACH E A AND RESILIENCE N D “A beautiful collection – not bleak – a portrait R E of humour, resilience and endurance.” S I L I E KIT DE WAAL N C E “T hese aren’t portraits of despair. They’re stories of defiance, of fight and of faith that a better country awaits us all.” ADITYA CHAKRABORTTY “T his is a profoundly important human document, haunting for all the right reasons, and must be read.” EDITED BY PAUL SNG E D I FOREWORD BY MICHAEL SHEEN T ALAN MOORE E D B Y P A U L S N G www.policypress.co.uk SNG_Invisible Britain_Cover_AW2.indd 1-3 24/09/2018 13:31 “ This book illustrates a truth we cannot ignore. Class conflict is at the heart of our society, the inevitable consequence of this economic system. This should be the first principle of our politics. Paul Sng also shows another eternal truth: in the end, people always fight back. Our task is to ensure that their resistance is not in vain.” KEN LOACH, FILM DIRECTOR SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 2 21/09/2018 12:44 First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Policy Press University of Bristol, 1-9 Old Park Hill, Bristol, BS2 8BB, UK t: +44 (0)117 954 5940 | [email protected] | www.policypress.co.uk North America office: Policy Press c/o The University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA t: +1 773 702 7700 | f: +1 773-702-9756 | [email protected] | www.press.uchicago.edu © Policy Press 2018 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 978-1-4473-4411-7 paperback The right of Paul Sng to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Policy Press. The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the authors and not of the University of Bristol or Policy Press. The University of Bristol and Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication. Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality. Cover and text design by blu inc, Bristol Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cambrian Printers, Aberystwyth Policy Press uses environmentally responsible print partners Editor and Creative Director: Paul Sng Curator and Project Manager: Laura Dicken Assistant Editors: Kiran Acharya, Peter Cary, Melissa Rose Interview transcriptions: Vicky Millington Editorial Assistant: Dan Butler Creative Consultants: Kiran Acharya, Chloe Juno Cover photographer: Bobby Beasley invisiblebritain @invisiblebritain @velvetjoyltd www.invisiblebritain.com SNG_Invisible Britain_Text_AW.indd 3 24/09/2018 11:21 INVISIBLE BRITAIN PORTRAITS OF HOPE AND RESILIENCE SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 4 21/09/2018 12:44 “ This is not just a collection of tender, beautiful photographs that give dignified people their rightful voice, but a record of austerity’s stain on our country. The invisibility of the people in these stories is how the government has got away with the last eight years of destroying our communities, our social security system and our public services. We must amplify their voices at every opportunity. Because when they speak out, they speak for all of us.” ROS WYNNE-JONES, REAL BRITAIN COLUMNIST SUPPORTED BY SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 5 21/09/2018 12:44 PHOTOGRAPHER: FIONA YARON-FIELD SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 6 21/09/2018 12:45 “T his is a class that have everything taken from them and are then derided for the want of it: denied a functional education they are typified as ignorant, robbed of their jobs they are called benefit scroungers and, while effectively silenced in any cultural or social debate, are seen as inarticulate. This magnificent and very timely book puts the lie to that with its sensitive portraits – some inspiring, some heart-breaking, some both at once – of a diverse, various and above all resilient people who, when given a voice, have stories that urgently need to be listened to. This is a profoundly important human document, haunting for all the right reasons, and must be read.” ALAN MOORE, WRITER SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 7 21/09/2018 12:45 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to everyone who supported Invisible Britain by contributing to our GoFundMe campaign. Without you this book would not have been realised. We would also like to thank the following people: Jamie Burton, Tony Colville, Vanessa Crawford, Rufus Dayglo, Stephen Dillon, Anna Doyle, Yolanda Fernandes, Michael Garrad, Helen Goulden, Jo Greig, Richard Guy, John Higginson, Bert Hogenkamp, Graham Jones, Mike Kelly, Kathryn King, Nick Levett, Gaynor Lloyd, Tim Mahar, Ravi McArthur, Chris McEvoy, Lisa McKenzie, Jessica Miles, Hilary Morison, Lesley Nichols, Chris Norbury, Mickey O’Brien, Graham Peet, Dawn Rushen, Lucie Russell, Alison Shaw, Michael Sheen, Tony Shephard, Valerie Sng, Lisa Stepanovic, Rebecca Tomlinson, Chris Wilson and David Worth. Special thanks: Arthouse Crouch End, Four Corners, Renegade TV and Barbara Weed. SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 8 21/09/2018 12:45 FOREWORD “ People don’t want to be felt sorry for; Ask people if they could have any superpower then what would they choose and pretty high up the list would come invisibility. To move they just want to be heard.” unseen, unheard, no one aware of your existence. The freedom to observe whilst being unobserved yourself. Leaving no trace and no MARIE MCCORMACK, GLASGOW witness. Of course, this is with the assumption that you are in control of your own visibility or otherwise. That you still have agency. To have invisibility imposed upon you with no guarantee that you will ever be seen again is another thing entirely. Invisibility is not disappearance. As I write this, there is a video online that has, at last count, had 14.5 million views of a guy doing a magic trick using his unwitting younger brother. He covers the boy in a sheet, then in a room full of expectant friends and family members, he removes the sheet with a flourish and, lo and behold, the boy has disappeared. The rest of the family are in uproar, shocked and amazed by the trick, calling out for the lost boy. The boy, however, is still there, looking on, bemused, as his family goes crazy in front of him. He is, of course, not invisible at all. It’s all a prank, pre-planned, to trick him into thinking he can no longer be seen. A state of being that mere minutes before he might have dreamed of, fantasised about – but now he is tasting something of its reality. His bemusement quickly turns to distress, and soon he is sobbing, terrified, desperately pleading with his family to see him, to make them aware that he still exists. To once again be revealed as having presence. SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 9 21/09/2018 12:45 This is a book of revelation, also. The faces in these photographs look What these stories don’t reveal are people passively bemoaning their out at us on an equal footing. Asking to be seen and heard. Not as case lot and waiting for someone to rescue them. Many of these voices will studies or statistics. People. Lives being lived. Each telling us a small unflinchingly tell you what they have experienced and how it has given but significant part of their story. Not as background colour to grit them a burning desire to commit to helping others going through the up a screen drama, or as council estate fodder for a tabloid scrounger same. That is ultimately where hope lies. People helping each other to story. These aren’t the bit parts – today these are the heroes. help themselves. Not that they are some homogeneous lump of noble suffering. One of the most powerful things that this book has left me with is the Privilege doesn’t have a monopoly on complexity. There are many image of the children’s faces in some of these pictures. They look out at voices here, multiple, contradictory points of view – frustrated, us, direct, sober, expectant. They ask us a question – ‘Will you see me? hopeful, angry, scared, defiant, passionate, compassionate. There are Will you dare to put aside your covering sheets and your tricks and things in these stories that are shocking. Things that moved me to tears. your feigned shock and concern, and, instead, will you simply see me?’ Things I disagreed with and things that are hard to accept. They get to speak for themselves, and be seen as they are. MICHAEL SHEEN Poverty porn it is not. As Reis Morris of Notting Hill says, ‘… poorness… that’s not the reason. The reason is the system.’ Marie, who I quoted above, says, ‘We are all vulnerable.’ She’s right. We can all struggle no matter what our backgrounds or circumstances. We can all suffer, but some of us have access to meaningful, effective, well resourced support when we need it and some of us don’t. These stories reveal communities where demand for support services is increasing but funding for them continues to disappear. And in this case it’s very real, not some parlour room trick. SNG_Invisible Britain_235X235_AW.indd 10 21/09/2018 12:45