Chris Steele-Perkins, Blackpool Beach 1980–9. Tate. © Chris Steele-Perkins.
13 rooms in Modern and Contemporary British Art
‘I found myself returning to the public rituals that we employ in the pursuit of happiness. For there we display our identity; as we would like it to be. There we make signals to each other about who we are, and about what we believe in.’
In 1980, against a backdrop of rapid political and cultural change, Chris Steele-Perkins began a decade-long project photographing England through the lens of pleasure. Travelling the country, he documented the distinctive customs, traditions and activities that shape national identity.
Steele-Perkins was born in 1947 to an English father and a Burmese mother in Yangon, Myanmar. He came to Britain aged two and was raised in the predominantly white town of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset. Later he recalled feeling alienated by this, saying: ‘I was aware of being different and not being English.’
He joined the Magnum Photos agency in 1979, working as a photojournalist in remote areas and conflict zones. The ‘kaleidoscope of experiences’ he encountered abroad made him re-examine his relationship to England. He found a new ‘appreciation for those qualities of Englishness I had not properly realised I valued’. But he also felt a growing distaste for ‘the chauvinism that narrows horizons and twists perspectives’.
The dissonant chorus of individuals, communities and cultures brought together in The Pleasure Principle is testament to Steele-Perkins’ enduring fascination with English identity. Years later, reflecting on the series, he wrote: ‘The national character is in flux, evolving as it ever has done, and we should cherish this, not fear it.’