Hi, I’m Joe. I’m a photographer from Lancashire who is currently documenting annual folk customs in Britain. I was born in 1985, growing up in Lancaster and North Yorkshire. At 18 I moved to South London where I studied the History of Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. I now live in South Manchester, and work at Manchester Metropolitan University.

My formative interest in photography developed in my teenage years and early twenties through interest in the candid portraiture of John Deakin and modernist photomontage. My interest in the medium really took off around 2009, when I became captivated by the broader history of photography, particularly from the mid-20th century. At this time I was particularly interested in the work of Bruce Davidson and Roger Mayne.

While working at London’s Hayward Gallery in 2010, I picked up a copy of their exhibition catalogue ‘No Such Thing as Society’ (2009). The book became a crucial reference point, depicting a lineage of British social photographic practice through the 1970s and 80s. The catalogue featured work by Tony Ray-Jones, Homer Sykes, and Chris Killip (amongst others) who became influential figures on my own practice. I continue to be inspired by their British vision, forged in familiar landscapes, that depict an arcane, almost magical quality in the everyday.

Sykes’ photograph of the Burryman and his attendants enjoying a drink at a bar, was so otherworldly and fascinating to me. The scene has an almost supernatural aura, with an undercurrent of menace. Sykes’ photobook ‘Once a Year’ opened up a whole world to me – of the seemingly eternal folk rituals woven into the fabric of British life, that represent our relationship to the land, our shared past, communities, and the changing seasons. It taught me that a rich, strange and enduring folk tradition that is easy to overlook, can be found all around us.

Two other key influences for me were the exhibitions ‘British Folk Art’ at Tate Britain in 2014, and ‘Only in England – Tony-Ray Jones and Martin Parr’ at the Science Museum in 2015.

I began taking my own photographs with intention in 2011, covering folk events, student protests, the London riots, and street scenes of British life on self-developed 35mm film. Between 2011 and 2014, I documented a number of British folk customs / seasonal events including The Burryman, Deptford Jack in the Green, Epsom Derby, The Britannia Coconut Dancers, Pearlie Kings and Queens, The Clown Service and The Election of the Mayor of Ock Street. In the subsequent years, I covered subjects such as the final season at West Ham United’s Boleyn Ground in 2016, as well as the street life and architecture of Berlin.

My photography has been featured in a number of print journals. I published the photobooks ‘Public Order’ (2011) and ‘A Kind of Living’ (2015), which are now out of print. ‘A Kind of Living’ was launched alongside my solo exhibition of the same name in Camberwell, south London.

My photographic practice was temporarily impacted by the demands of my career in the early 2020s, but this period having passed, I am now focused on extending the depth and coverage of my work on British folk customs.

You can view more of my current work on my Instagram page: @joebarnesphoto