‘United Kingdom’ depicts my experience of London at the end of the second Elizabethan era.
When HM Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8 September 2022, I felt compelled to head out onto the streets of London, to join the crowds gathered around London’s landmarks watching live streams on their phones, and to walk the length of The Queue. The saturation of the media and public spaces with royal imagery got to me. I did not plan to produce this series; it simply felt wrong to watch history unfold from my sofa at home.
These photographs do not purport to tell the story of the Queen’s funeral or the King’s accession. Eschewing direct examination of royal ceremony and celebrity, this series is a montage of observations around the fray of this very British occasion.
Buckingham Palace, 8 September 2022 - Large crowds gather atop the Victoria Memorial shortly after the passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Buckingham Palace, 8 September 2022 - London’s iconic Black Cabs assemble along The Mall en masse, their headlamps casting long shadows on the tarmac.
St Paul’s Cathedral, 9 September 2022 - As the ‘Service of Prayer and Reflection for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’ takes place inside St Paul’s Cathedral, a lone attendant stands by on the steps.
Trafalgar Square, 14 September 2022 - Londoners try to catch a glimpse of the funeral proceedings. Peering through a gap in a security barrier, a lady tries to catch a view of the Queen’s Coffin as it travels from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. There is no line of sight from her vantage point.
Members of the public hold their smartphones in the air, trying to capture the moment. Never has a Monarch’s funeral been recorded and livestreamed on this scale.
South Bank, 16 September 2022 - Perhaps the most iconic aspect of the funeral proceedings was The Queue, which had a maximum total length of 16 km and a maximum waiting time of over 24 hours.
Green Park, 16 September 2022 - A sea of floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth II stacked up next to a large tree.
South Bank, 17 September 2022 - A series of photographs along the full length of The Queue.
Westminster Bridge, 16 September 2022 - Westminster Bridge is closed to vehicles. A lone silhouette appears amidst the sea of pedestrians.
The Mall, 19 September 2022 - Allan Piela, formerly of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, watches stoically as the Royal Navy State Funeral Gun Carriage carrying the Queen’s coffin passes in front of him along The Mall. Born in the same year that the Queen ascended the Throne, Allan stood in the crowd for over 3 hours, waiting for this moment.
‘United Kingdom’ was available as a limited edition print digest, released in December 2022.
Edition of 70 copies. All copies signed.
Softcover with half jacket, 54 pages, A4 (210 x 297 mm), perfect bound.
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