Picture of a nation

OneWorld UK

By Daniel Nelson

Black Britons burst into How We Are: Photographing Britain in the fourth section (The New Britain, 1945-1969) of this fascinating exhibition.

Until that point its a virtually all-white history, though there is a portrait of a black fisherman in 1900 who it would be interesting to know more about.

But by the 1950s, say the curators, the British were increasingly aspirational, adventurous and engaged with ideas around nationhood

Portrait studios flourished on the high street and catered to recent immigrants to Britain.

The New Britain section starts with photographs by Dorothy Bohm, a Jewish-Lithuanian who emigrated from east Prussia in 1939, followed by pictures by Tony Walker, who found in the early 1950s that his high street business was attracting new clients recent immigrants from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

At this time, many portrait studios were hostile towards these newcomers, but Walker welcomed them and adapted his methods to suit the styles of portraiture from their homelands. Thousands of his glass negatives were destroyed when he died, but fortunately 15,000 survived.

Similarly, Harry Jacobs in Stockwell built up a wonderful archive of his local community: initially West Indians, then Africans and finally other groups such as Asians, Irish and Portuguese.

Despite this vibrant community, the photos alongside indicate that light entertainment was still a largely white affair.

Also featured are Vanley Burke, who documented black British life, and Horace Ove, whose pictures of the Notting Hill Carnival concentrated not on the floats and performers but on the residents who gathered on the streets to watch.

Fittingly, the last featured migrant photographer is Grace Lau, who set up a Chinese portrait studio in Hastings, a colourful backdrop for her white sitters: I am making an oblique comment on imperialistic visions of the exotic Chinese and by reversing roles, I have become the Imperialist photographer documenting my exotic subjects in the Port of Hastings.

These photographers and subjects do not do justice to the richness and diversity migrants have brought to Britain (though there are other hints: a cookery book has curries and pasta and ingredients that would have been unseen even a few years earlier). But that is not what this rich, diverse exhibition (500 images by 100 photographers) set out to do. One of the pleasures it offers is to muse on the people and subjects that are not included (wheres the sport?), and the nature of the representation of those that are.

+ What epitomises Britain and its people for you today? Enter your pictures in an online competition by uploading them onto the How We Are Now Flickr group before 25 July.

* How We Are: Photographing Britain runs at Tate Britain until 2 September; 7887 8888. Admission: £7.40/conc £6