Exploring Britishness – in pictures

Tanya Costa

I’m a Gypsy by birth, but I’ve never been considered a Gypsy woman, because I’ve always been with foster parents and care homes, so they consider me to be a normal white woman. When I was 16, I decided to leave my community because I didn’t like the rules. I was supposed to leave Portugal when I was 17, but my mum refused, so when I was 26 I came to England. The UK gave me the opportunity to have a new life, especially with my baby. I’m a different person, thinking differently. I want to explore the country more in the future. I want to raise my child in this country, in the right way, and teach her how to deal with people: not to be rude, not to be violent, but at the same time defend herself if someone does something wrong to her.

Jack Tully

When people ask me where I’m from, my answer hasn’t really changed since I was about five years old. I’m from London and Scotland – not English or British. Scottish. Celebrating my Scottishness has been easy. I’m a white guy. Ask this question of the Muslim boys in my class, or the Iranian family who lived next door, or the second-generation Jamaican family whose son I played football with, and you’re going to get a different answer. We’ve taken steps backwards, not forwards, when talking about identity and difference. Britain seeks to return to some form of colonial nationalism, when Britannia ruled the waves and raped and pillaged its way across near enough the entire planet.

Joy Itumu

My experiences of being a young black female in this country have shaped my understanding and my opinions. I think that’s why I’m very keen to hold on to my Kenyan heritage and values in a practical and intentional manner. I visit Kenya frequently, still speak Swahili and Kimbeere, and stay up to date with current events. The black British population is very diverse, and I think we have a lot to offer. I still feel we are intentionally marginalised, tokenised and disproportionally underrepresented, despite the fact our culture is aped throughout the western world. I think black people want leadership: they want to be represented. That’s what it means to be black British, especially in the age of Brexit. When I see a black British person triumph or a trailblazer, I’m like, “Wow”, because they’ve made it, most probably with huge obstacles in their way. It’s a special thing to be black British.

Naqeeb Saide

I left Jalalabad in Afghanistan four and a half years ago to come to the UK. My family chose the UK for me because my brother was already here and they knew he would look after me. I think it’s important to go to a foster family when you arrive. They help you to learn the language, teach you the culture and show you how to speak with the people. Most people who arrive here want to work hard to build a new life and contribute back to the country. We just want a safe roof over our heads. When I first arrived, I tried to learn as much as I could, do new things and meet new people. It’s hard for us when we don’t have our family. If people would give us a chance, we could prove that we are educated and talented and we can contribute back to this country.

Christine Zhou

For me my home has been Beijing because I was born there, Toronto because I grew up there, Montreal because I found myself there, Paris because my godmother lives there, Shanghai because they are my grandmother’s people, and now Todmorden because I am reminded of my true self here. They say home is where the heart lies. For me, home is where the wind takes me and now it has taken me to Todmorden. It’s not just where your heart lies but also a sense of belonging and contributing something meaningful to where you call home. And that takes time, kindness and courage. I don’t feel I’m completely there yet, but I feel at ease living here in the moors and the hills. I have found love, kindness and courage in the people who live here and I’m slowly making lifelong friends.

Krishnarine Lalla

I’m ethnically Indian, nationally Trinidadian but now British. My grandparents came from India as indentured labourers to replace the African slaves when slavery was abolished. Indentured labour is another form of slavery. It still exists today. I left Trinidad in 1960 with my wife and baby daughter on a ship, the Marques de Comillas, and landed at Southampton in dense fog. I think us immigrants have contributed a great deal to this country – socially, financially and especially in the health service. When we came, we took jobs that nobody else wanted to do. We had a lot of people coming from the West Indies specifically to train as nurses, starting on the bottom rung to get their qualifications. Nowadays, the NHS is getting people who come in as fully trained nurses.

Empress Zaudith Ishuah

I grew up in a mainly black and ethnic minority community in Handsworth, Birmingham. It was a time of black consciousness, and I was gaining more knowledge about myself as a black woman living here in the UK. Growing up in this community helped shape that consciousness to gain knowledge about myself, my culture, and to develop skills. I became more interested in my African heritage. According to British categorisation, I would be African-Caribbean, but first and foremost I am a proud black African. Black Lives Matter in the UK is asking the government to end racial discrimination, decolonise the curriculum and implement measures to safeguard children at risk of racial discrimination and bullying, as well as to investigate health disparities. These are things that obviously need to be addressed, but we need to look at the root of the problem. We’re not addressing the root of the problem because we’re always treating the symptom instead of the root itself. The root goes right back in history. Until certain stark realisations of the truth and admissions begin to unpick some of the serious damage that’s already been done, racial injustice is always going to continue.

Louis Beckett

I was brought up in Ancoats, Newton Heath, just down the road from Moston in Manchester. The north has always been treated differently from the south and it’s just got worse with those lot in power now. They’re detached from reality, never mind from the north. I just think they’re on another planet, you know. They’re living in this world where it’s money over everything, it’s profit over everything, and stashing money away. I don’t think they speak for any of us now, and I think the whole of the UK is coming round to the working class way of thinking. Not just the working class but their own way of thinking. The next election these people can’t get in again – no way.

Celeste Bell

I wasn’t born rich, far from it, but my earliest years were spent in a beautiful bubble on the edge of London. I grew up in an intentional community, known in the vernacular as a commune. Inspired by eastern philosophy, the founders of our community attempted to recreate Vedic era India in the English countryside. I felt like an alien in 1990s Britain. My mother had felt the same in the 1950s and 1960s, being of mixed heritage in an era where racial mixing was considered a sin. And I expect my Somali grandfather felt the same in the 1940s, when he stepped foot on our shores. Post-commune life in south London was hard to get used to. As soon as I could leave Britain, I did. I suppose I never formed a close enough attachment to the country of my birth. Britain for me is rather like my absent father, someone I see at Christmas and birthdays, someone whom I don’t really know, someone who doesn’t really know me. I found a kind of comfort in being truly foreign.

Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE

I’m a European Jew and my ancestors have lived in Europe for thousands of years. My father’s parents came to the UK in the late 1930s from Austria, and were very appreciative of finding refuge on these shores. My mother came over with the Kindertransport at the age of 10, from Vienna, after her parents were murdered by the Nazis. Being a member of a minority is, to a certain degree, a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’re seen as an outsider, as not really British, even though I’m third generation. But on the other hand, being a member of a minority gives one a special perspective that those who one might not notice. Being a Jewish person in the UK is a great blessing in my opinion, because the UK is a very tolerant society generally.

Stina Fisher

My mum is from a small town in Germany and my dad was born here and moved around Scotland with his family for a bit. When people ask me about my nationality, I don’t know whether to say Scottish or German. I know I don’t feel British though. I am Scottish and German but it’s a bit confusing which one to say. I was also upset when I got my British passport recently as I didn’t want one, but we decided I should have it just in case. People always say that it’s really cool to have a mixed nationality and be bilingual, and I agree: I’m so lucky because I basically have two homes. I have citizenship here but I also have one in Germany. I feel like I belong to both countries.

Robert Motyka

I was born in Poland and lived most of my life there. I’ve lived in Scotland since 2007. I constantly think about who I am in so many different contexts. I feel Polish because I love Polish culture and Polish music – so this is my main ethnicity. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to call myself Scottish, as I wasn’t born here, but at the same time I can call myself a Scottish artist because all of my art experience happened here. When I consider the question of what “Britishness” means, I think the term starts falling apart. I’m thinking: do you mean England, or do you mean Northern Ireland, or do you mean Scotland, or do you mean Wales? Because I know that English voters have different opinions than those in Scotland. I prefer to talk about Scotland, since I live here. I think Scotland is diverse in a sense that there are people from different backgrounds living here, but also there are still a lot of things which were never resolved. Europeans look similar to Scottish people, so we blend in easier, but people with darker skin still struggle with the lack of diversity in Scotland.