Portrait of Britain 2024
The annual photography competition captures the constantly evolving identity of the UK
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Portrait of Britain is the nation’s biggest annual photography competition. Now in its seventh year, the event, run by British Journal of Photography in partnership with the outdoor advertising company JCDecaux UK, aims to celebrate the diverse nature and evolving identity of contemporary society.
In this annual exhibition, 100 images will be selected from thousands of submissions and displayed from 6 January on digital screens on high streets, in shopping malls and at transport hubs across the country. A book of 200 selected images is available now, published by Bluecoat Press. UK Muslims feature prominently among the 2024 entries, both in front of and behind the camera. Here are some of our favourites.
This portrait, from 2023, is from an ongoing project focusing on the small but growing community of Muslims on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
Aisha is a participant in the Following Nan expedition, inspired by the pioneering Scottish mountaineer and author Nan Shepherd and her memoir, The Living Mountain. The expedition experiments with a different, more intentional approach to mountaineering.
“This is Idriss Sesay,” writes photographer Elijah Thomas. “I grew up in the Rhondda Valley with his son Mohammed and even though I keep in touch with Mo I hadn’t spoken to Idriss for about 20 years. We made this photograph in their family home in Llwynypia. He’s wearing a boubou, an item of clothing traditionally worn across west Africa.”
Portraits of Identity, of which this image is part, is a photographic project that aims to capture Edinburgh’s diversity.
A volunteer at the East London Mosque for many years, Bodrul Islam stands by the car park gate directing worshippers during Friday prayers, which attract a congregation of up to 7,000.
This image was made during a Palestine solidarity protest in Wanstead, east London, at which the local community came together to fly kites — a popular Palestinian pastime.
Young Hakim, photographed outside Downing Street, highlights some of the many injustices in the world.
Fahma and her friends having a picnic in a park in Haggerston to celebrate Eid, from an ongoing series titled Hackney Colours, which explores and celebrates the people of the borough.
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