Polling station, Goodman Park, Slough, 6th May 2010, Slough constituency © Simon Roberts

Simon Roberts was the first photographer commissioned as the official election artist for the 2010 General Election in the United Kingdom.

“I wanted to move away from the media’s traditional approach of concentrating almost exclusively on the three main party leaders. I was more interested in exploring the experiences of the smaller political parties and independent candidates standing in marginal constituencies around the country. Moreover, I intended my photographs to be a captivating investigation of the British landscape, as well as the political campaign that was unfolding in it.” —Simon Roberts

The series of 25 images from The Election Project will be on view from September 15 at Parliament’s Portcullis House in London.

Keynes Country Park Beach, Gloucestershire, 2008, by Simon Roberts from his We English exhibit at Klompching Gallery in Brooklyn’s D.U.M.B.O. district. We English explores identity, attachment to home and the relationship between people and the land in England.

“In 2005, I spent a year traveling across Russia to produce Motherland, a book exploring the Russians’ attachment to their homeland. This attachment to place was somewhat mysterious–simultaneously profound and banal–and it led me to think about my own sense of belonging and memory, identity and place. We English became another journey, not quite as epic as that across Russia, but involving a 1993 Talbot Express Swift Capri motorhome, my pregnant wife, our two-year-old daughter and a 5×4 large-format camera.”
—Simon Roberts

We English is on view until October 24 at Klompching Gallery, 111 Front Street, Suite 206, Brooklyn.