Portrait of Britain Vol. 8: The Winners

The images featured in this year’s Volume capture the playful tone of daily life and tender humour in Britain. One such image shows Amaya, seven years old, seated in what looks like an outdoor living room: a worn sofa, a lamp, a side table, a rug, even a handmade wooden window frame complete with net curtains, photographed by Alex Elton-Wall. This was The Lydbrook Lounge, a fly-tipped sofa that spontaneously evolved into a village-wide art installation after residents began adding objects around it.

As the photographer continued to make portraits of neighbours on the sofa – 170 in total – the project went viral, reaching national and international media. Amaya, photographed in the early days of the unfolding spectacle, remembers simply that “it was really funny when everyone was getting their pictures taken on the old sofa”. The gentle portrait captures the spirit of a community who found joy in something once discarded.

Some portraits draw attention to forms of work often hidden from public view. One image, photographed inside the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington, shows scientists Marco Schioppo and Adam Parke monitoring one of the ultrastable lasers used in next-generation optical atomic clocks. These systems produce the most stable light frequencies in the UK and may soon redefine the SI unit of time, enabling technologies far beyond current capabilities.

One of the selected portraits by Isaac Qureshi features his wife’s experience with alopecia, a return of his portrait featured in Portrait of Britain Volume 6. This portrait led Qureshi on a year-long journey of meeting others with the condition, which culminated in his True Crowns series. “Some time has passed now since Katherine lost her hair, and so she wanted to show some playfulness and humour in celebration of the acceptance that has now come to her,” he says.