We English is now officially out, available online and in all good bookshops! Here are some initial reviews-

NEW YORK MAGAZINE, October 5 2009
Simon Roberts — Editor’s Pick

“A gorgeous series of lyrical, light-strewn photographs that the artist took of the English at play—bathers in a chilly-looking Gloucestershire, a couple miniaturized amid misty hills in East Sussex—on a tour of his homeland”

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THE NEW MAGAZINE, The Independent on Sunday, October 4 2009
Arts&Books Reviews, We English

“Combining a Martin Parr-esque British wit with wide, open skies and an almost visible damp chill that are reminiscent of Mike McCartney’s Liverpool photographs, ‘We English’ is the result of a year-long odyssey through England in, fittingly, a motor home. Picturing ordinary people doing curious things, Roberts looks for ‘beauty in the mundance’.”

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THE INDEPENDENT, October 1 2009
This is England — Hannah Duguid

“The first place he photographed was the beach at Skegness in Lincolnshire, where people have holidayed since the nineteenth century. It’s a bit grim. The sky is overcast and the water brown, there is litter and everyone is bundled up, wearing coats. The scene is mundane and familiar to many, but Roberts has managed to bring a lyrical quality to it. The sea and sky are huge, the view is elevated and looking down we get a vast sense of space….There are two stories in his photographs: one is everyday, the other is eternal.” — Hannah Duguid

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BBC NEWS, October 1, 2009
The English at Leisure — Phil Coomes

“A project of this size can often take an unexpected turn and the final edit is sometimes the most challenging part. It’s tough to step back from the creation of the photographs, allowing yourself to see the pictures in the way a viewer will, and not as you remember them…. From my point of view, then, I think Simon has achieved all he set out to, and much more. The pictures are in themselves undeniably beautiful, but their real power comes from the collection as a whole. To remove from the stream of time a series of moments that are instantly recognisable as being part of life in England is a real achievement, and one that will ensure this collection will become the defining study of life in England at the end of this decade.”—Phil Coomes

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CREATIVE REVIEW, October 2009
‘Landscape as portrait’ – In his book, We English, photographer Simon Roberts looks at contemporary English leisure in all its collective glory

“….While many of Roberts’ images adhere to our traditional notions of beauty spots, others are of noisy, packed events like Derby Day. In each, however, the framing is such that the subjects are fixed firmly within their environment. Individuals are rendered small but, significantly, we can still read them by their expressions, their clothes and what they’re doing. It’s a technique that links back to landscape painting and the layered canvases of the 16th century. As a contemporary record, however, Roberts has captured a nation beautifully and brilliantly.”

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FLAK PHOTO, October, 2009
Simon Roberts: We English

A selection of photographs from We English series are featured in the October WEEKEND series at Flak Photo, an online forum for international contemporary photography, edited by Andy Adams.

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PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS, September 25, 2009
Simon Roberts: We English (photo of the day)

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DESIGN WEEK, September 17, 2009
We Happy Few, Review of Martin Parr’s Parrworld

“One of the younger photographers included in Parrworld is Brighton-based Simon Roberts, who has just completed a large project entitled We English that will be the subject of a major exhibition at the National Media Museum in Bradford next year…Like Parr, Roberts wants to swim against the tide of so much modern photography….We English looks at the country with a lyrical pastoral gaze rather than irony or sarcasm…Roberts shows people engaged in group leisure activities presented small in the frame and with light that is unfashionably undramatic. It’s a body of work that is unfashionable not only stylistically and in subject matter too. To take the photographs, Roberts covered his head with a dark cloth to peer through the concertina of a large-format view camera, essentially unchanged since the 19^th century, and shot on film.”

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WHAT’S THE JACKANORY, September 10, 2009
Video Interview with Andrew Hetherington on the popular What’s the Jackanory Blog.

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FOTO8, September 8, 2009
Interview with Guy Lane

“As pictures from his road trip around England go on display in London and New York, Simon Roberts talks to Guy Lane about people, places and his new book — We English.”

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LENS CULTURE, September, 2009
Simon Roberts: We English

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GO SEE, Issue 38, September 2009
We English – From personal identity to the beauty of banality

“Several of Simon Roberts’ shots of his country and her inhabitants, call to mind Massimo Vitali’s swarming beach images, yet Simon’s gatherings of people are different – somehow more English. The spaces come across as less tidy. Other motifs reminds us of Martin Parr’s soft touch, just more sublime and somehow more honest.”

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ELUXURY, September 4, 2009
Full English Snap-fest

“In August 2007 award-winning photographer Simon Roberts embarked upon a 13-month journey around Englnd to document the lives and landscapes of his home country with a large format camera. The resulting photographs are lush in their painterly composition but defiantly mundane in subject matter, conceived as an unflinching and unbiased exploration of what it means to be English today.”

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AHORN MAGAZINE, Issue 4, September 2009
Simon Roberts: We English discussed on this online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography, directed and edited by Daniel Augschoell and Anya Jasbar.

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THE GUARDIAN, August 22, 2009
The English at Leisure

“In search of a sense of place and belonging, Simon Roberts set off with his family to photograph England at play. The results are a beautiful, lyrical body of work.”

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