Portrait of Britain is an annual British

portrait photography Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...

competition run by the ''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

.'' Its subject is the diversity of

British people British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mo ...

. The 100 winning portraits are displayed on

JCDecaux Decaux Group (JCDecaux SA, ) is a multinational corporation based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France, known for its bus-stop advertising systems, billboards, public bicycle rental systems, and street furniture. It is the largest outdoor ...

's digital screens across Britain throughout the month of September. It launched in 2016. Since 2018, an eponymously titled book has been published with 200 of the shortlisted portraits from each competition.

Details

The competition's subject is the diversity of

"and the way their narratives reflect its widely unstable political and social landscape." It was partly inspired by

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

. It is open to anyone to enter but photographs must have been taken within the previous six years and "depict subjects living in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) at the time of the photograph." The 100 winning portraits are displayed on the outdoor advertising company

's digital screens located in railway stations, shopping centres, bus stops and high streets. Each image appears on each screen for five to ten seconds. The competition ran in September 2016, September 2017 September 2018, December 2021 and September 2022 with winners announced the following year.

Publications

*''Portrait of Britain.'' London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2018. . With an introduced by

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...

. Work by 200 photographers alongside information about each image and selected quotes from the photographers. *''Portrait of Britain: Vol 2.'' London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2019. . With an introduction by

Ekow Eshun Ekow Eshun (born 27 May 1968) is a British writer, journalist, broadcaster, and curator. He is the editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine ''Tank'', a former editor of ''Arena'' magazine, and the former director of the Institute of Contempor ...

. *''Portrait of Britain: Vol 3.'' London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2020. . With an introduction by

David Olusoga David Adetayo Olusoga (born January 1970) is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. He has presented historical documentaries on the BBC and contribu ...

. *''Portrait of Britain: Vol 4.'' London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2022. . With an introduction by

Jess Phillips Jessica Rose Phillips (; born 9 October 1981) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguardi ...

. *''Portrait of Britain: Vol 5.'' London: Hoxton Mini Press, 2023. With an introduction by Rachel Segal Hamilton. *''Portrait of Britain: Vol 6.'' London: Bluecoat Press, 2024. With an introduction by Simon Bainbridge.

References

External links

*{{Official website, www.portraitofbritain.uk Annual events in the United Kingdom 2016 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 2016 Photography awards Photography in the United Kingdom