Both are Britain today – so why do we have to choose?
THESE two portraits tell a tale of Britain.
Margaret Tyler, in a Union Jack coat, at home in Wembley with patriotic soft furnishings and floor-to-ceiling monarchist memorabilia.
And Abubaker Abdelkarim, a young refugee from Eritrea, in front of a flags-of-the-world display at his Nottingham school.
Both photographs are among the winners of this year’s prestigious ‘Portrait of Britain’ awards, which organisers say is “a captivating journey through the diverse faces and stories that define modern Britain”.
The picture of 13-year-old Abubaker was taken by the Mirror’s Philip Coburn for our ‘People Move’ series that invites those who have sought sanctuary here to share an object that connects them to home.
Appropriately enough, Abubaker’s chosen object was a box of photographs from his war-torn home in Eritrea that remind him “not to change too much” now he is living a different life in Nottingham.
“I moved here when I was nine,” he told us. “When you leave your country to move to another country, you think, ‘am I going to be the same person?’”
The Portrait of Britain series invites us to ask who best sums up modern Britain. Is it Tasmina Haq holding her sabre and fencing mask at the Muslim Girls Fencing Club?
Or student Safy, sitting on a bridge in Cambridge, or Debbie embracing the sun on the Isle of Skye ahead of her next chemotherapy session?
Is it a loving couple with Down’s Syndrome on what looks to be their wedding day?
This year there is every sign our national identity will be pulled apart by a general election.
As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, the siren call of the Culture Wars will grow ever louder. Our politicians will rush to pull on Margaret’s Union Jack jacket. Some will choose to define Britain by the people they intend to force to leave our shores.
These politicians and their cheerleaders will ask us to choose between Margaret and Abubaker. But what if we don’t need to? The British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain reflects a country with enough room for Debbie in Skye and Tasmina’s fencing club. And for the next month, millions will see that Britain reflected on digital screens in cities right across the UK on high streets and shopping centres, train stations and bus shelters.
Margaret, who is 80, expresses her patriotism through her deep love of the monarchy – with Royal souvenirs in every corner of her home.
Abubaker’s is quieter, expressed in his smart school uniform and pride in his studies.
Photographer Phil Coburn says he noticed something about Abubaker when he began to photograph him. “When I held my camera up, I realised that Abubaker has a lot of presence in the viewfinder,” Coburn says. “He was very calm and relaxed, and his gaze was steady. He seemed wise beyond his years – very un-self-conscious with a natural manner and a quiet confidence.” Coburn explained that he finds being “open about your own vulnerabilities” can help people relax in front of the camera.
“Maybe I’ll tell them something about my surviving a bomb blast in Afghanistan or my injuries, or some experiences I have had on assignments, or even something about my two sons I am so proud of,” he says.
But he adds: “This wasn’t needed with Abubaker as he was such a natural in front of the camera.
“With his thoughtful gaze and soulful eyes, he was very easy to photograph.” For Abubaker, this is the latest unexpected chapter in a journey that began with the war in Eritrea when he was a five-year-old child.
Now living in Aspley, Notts, he longs to see the extended family he left behind. But he has spent the last 10 years building a new life in the UK.
“I’m starting to feel British,” he says, now aged 15. “I think I can feel it in me.
“I feel like being British is about what you do, what you do in your community, what you put in. We live in a good community – and I want to give back.”
Abubaker hopes to go to Oxford University to study maths.
When he isn’t studying, he has a new-found love of football - playing for school and local teams and following his beloved Liverpool.
“I didn’t know anything about football until I came to the UK,” he laughs.
When the Mirror held an exhibition of our People Move project at London’s City Hall last summer, Abubaker met a fellow Liverpool fan, Sadiq Khan.
“When I met the London Mayor at the exhibition he inspired me,” he says. “I’m now thinking about politics because I’d like to do more to help people see the truth about being a refugee, to educate people.
“Being part of
People Move was part of that. Being
British means standing for something, being fair, welcoming others.
That’s why I want to go into politics, to help others, to give them hope, make a difference.”
As rhetoric about refugees reaches fever pitch in the House of Commons and resonates far beyond, Abubaker’s portrait will be quietly looking out across our high streets. “I feel a bit shy about who will see my picture, about what people will say,” he says.
“But I am also proud that people will see this picture. I hope it will help people to understand a little bit more about what it is like to be a refugee.”
‘‘ I’m starting to feel British. I can feel it in me and I want to give back
‘‘ Being British means being fair and welcoming others