Sophie Green’s maximalist, technicolour vision of Britain’s fringes

Sienna, a half-foot tall Yorkshire Terrier, is coiffed to perfection, a fingernail-sized red claw clip keeps the wisps of golden fringe out of her eyes as she stares off into the distance. Behind her, a red tent obscures a world of canine grooming, show rings and judging panels.

Sienna and her handler, Elise, form one of thousands of pairs that roll through dog show circuits in the UK. It’s a British tradition that dates back over 150 years, born from the perennial devotion of dog-owners and a penchant for exhibiting pure-breeds. For British documentary photographer Sophie Green, dog shows demonstrate a desire to build rituals around passion, connection and shared identity – her portrait of Elise and Sienna is just one of several communities she photographs to build a portrait of modern Britain.

“I’m interested in showing what already exists on the ground. The banger tracks, spiritualist churches, afro hair salons, Traveller horse fairs, seaside spaces – these are all places where people are actively building belonging in their own way.” Green says. ​“Many of these worlds sit outside mainstream visibility, not because they’re peripheral, but because they’re often overlooked or sometimes simplified in how they’re represented. What interested me was the richness within them – the kinship, humour, pride, devotion and rawness that exists inside these gatherings.” 

In her images of communities on the margin, Green documents collective practices and identity, but she explains her work isn’t about defining British identity; rather, showing that it’s bigger than the preconceived and often narrow notions of what it means to be British. Her portraits challenge British stereotypes through both subject and colour, which drip maximalist, saturated tones of sky blue, acid green and, crucially, tangerine orange, in stark dispute of Britain’s perpetual association with grey to create ​“joy, introspection and richly textured emotion”.

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Green will display her vibrant photographs at the Bristol-based Martin Parr Foundation next month in Tangerine Dreams: Rituals of Belonging in Contemporary British Life, following a sold-out Tangerine Dreams photobook published last year. These testimonies of life across the UK will go alongside an exhibition on British death rituals, which Green says she sees as a microcosm of contemporary Britain. She views funerals as another practice that serves as a critical moment for union, but one that she and Parr found to be absent in photography. ​“My interest is in reintroducing that space into the visual record – not to sensationalise it, but to recognise funerals as a significant part of how contemporary Britain comes together and marks life transitions.”

But amid this survey of the nation that Green paints, another one comes to mind. One of social divisions, charged identity politics and soaring gentrification, council restrictions and costs. Will these communities endure it? Green is optimistic. Despite, or perhaps in spite of these challenges, she finds that these practices are thriving. ​“Many of these rituals continue through reinvention,” she says. 

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“At Traveller horse fairs, I’ve seen how these gatherings continue to function as social and cultural anchors, even under external pressures such as policing and regulation, which keep shutting the fairs down. In church congregations like the Aladura spiritualist churches I’ve documented, multi-generational communities continue to gather weekly, sustaining ritual, music, and collective worship as a living practice despite the widespread gentrification of South London.”

At a time of British discontent, Green feels it is even more vital to connect with stories of communities that flourish through togetherness and shared connection. ​“Even in an increasingly individualised society,” she adds. ​“People still seek physical spaces to gather, celebrate and connect to something larger than themselves.”

Tangerine Dreams: Rituals of Belonging in Contemporary British Life by Sophie Green is on view at the Martin Parr Foundation from June 4 until September 6, 2026.

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