Photographer’s series of striking gritty portraits of Londoners in their daily lives that ‘explore what it means to be British’

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This striking series of portraits show Londoners going about their daily lives as part of an exploration of "what it means to be British".

The photographs make up ‘Blighty’, a collection of images from north London photographer Sam Gregg.

From greasy spoons to docklands, council estates to school gates, Gregg, 29, has spent the past year wandering around the city trying to “dig up the roots” of the UK capital.

He now plans to extend the project beyond London as part of his mission to get to the heart of his country.

A number of the photos were shot in the East End, where the the remnants of British culture from the turn of the 19th Century are still visible, Gregg explained

Gregg’s nostalgic series pays particular homage to old family-run businesses and the daily graft of the disenfranchised.

“I wanted to pay tribute to pie and mash shops and all those local institutions before they, and the people that made them, are gone forever,” he said.

'So many different cultures from the West Indies to India have helped to create modern day Britain, so it's impossible to pin down one core essence,' Gregg said

Having spent years living abroad in Thailand and Italy, the 29-year-old was struck by his sense of detachment from his birthplace.

So, on his return to the UK capital in 2018, he decided to pick up his camera and get to know the “vibrant characters and vestiges of bygone eras” that make up his sprawling home.

The photographer was struck by his sense of detachment from his birthplace after time living abroad 

“I’ve spent so much time abroad that I’ve almost forgotten what it means to be British,” he writes in his introduction to the project.

“Come to think of it, maybe I’ve never known.”

The photographer recognised that to truly connect with his country, he’d need to move beyond the borders of his capital.

Gregg plans to travel around the UK to complete his exploration of 'Britishness'

“The plan is to go around the UK and meet people from all walks of life,” he said.

“A country’s rich and complex fabric can’t just be whittled down into one city, of course it can’t. But London is where I’m from, so it’s a start.”

He also acknowledged that the turmoil of Brexit and an uncertain future made it even harder to reduce the nation to some sort of fixed identity.

“What it actually means ‘to be British’? God knows. That’s near impossible to define,” he admitted.

“All I know is that us Brits are a complicated bunch, but if you peel back a few layers, we’re just like everyone else – just with an added dash of self-deprecation and sarcasm.

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