In 2016, the result of the British referendum sent tremors throughout Europe, kickstarting a process of the country's departure from the European Community that would not end until February 2020. The referendum opened up a whole series of discussions regarding the future of the nation, but also regarding the validity and state of the European Union as a project. The Brexit conjecture reflected a longstanding rift in the establishment, a deepening crisis of representation in the party system, and the growing crisis of authority of national and international political elites. In fact, it was a crisis of national-popular hegemony over the British people by the central government. Over the past two decades, Britain has sought to reframe itself as a conjunction of historical past and political future. A past rooted in Britain's cultural heritage and a future that aims for a democratic, tolerant and creative Britain that faces the challenges of the new information age, the country's ethnic and cultural complexity, and, of course, Britain's displacement from the centre of the world stage.
I started this project in 2019, shooting all over the British Isles and reflecting on how British national identity has been reshaped in relation to a new global context. Shine On builds on this premise and seeks to delineate the multifaceted and elusive face of today's Britain: a liquid form, constantly changing and contradicting itself in search of a new identity. As I travel the country I called home as a child, I document a moment of strong community change – rediscovering places and memories, distorted and idealised over time, that have accompanied me till now.
