Brits Abroad: photographing expatriats in their new life

There are over 5 million British people living abroad from places like Australia to Spain.  We tend to know little about these people do, what they do, why they went there or indeed how long they've lived there.

Photographer Charlie Clift embarked on a project to photograph expats living on the Mediterranean coast for his series Brits Abroad.  All images can be viewed on his website.

Clift says of his work, "Immigrants are so often spoken about in terms of statistics or stereotypes.  I want people to understand the variety within a group showing how different each person can be."  Instead of looking at how the media stereotypically covers immigration is looking at those immigrants living in Britain Clift wanted to "focus on British people themselves who are immigrants themselves in other countries."

This is interesting especially when looking at the work I did myself on immigration for this course.  I wanted to explore the lives my ancestors lived in their destination country too.  However, we chose to do it in very different ways.

I like his images.  They are very colour as are the characters.  We are introduced to people who have retired to Spain, those working in the expat industry, fish and chip shop owners, cleaners, artists and writers.  This is a diverse group of people with one thing in common - being British.

I like the way in which he has used the subject's place of work for the portrait settings. It enhances their story and establishes an intimacy between the viewer and subject.  It makes you think about the life they left behind.  Was the grass actually greener on the other side? Have these people integrated into Spanish life?  Or are they simply living a British life abroad in the sun?

I like this work especially when thinking about in relation to place.  What does this place mean for the subjects of his pictures?  It seems to differ from person to person.  Is this home?  Or will Britain always be seen as home.

I would like to look at working on a project for the Irish that are moving to Britain today.  Apparently, about 400 arrive in Britain every week.  It would be interesting to tell their stories.

I'm not sure whether Clift is going to look at other countries where expats are living.  It would be interesting to see if the level of integration differs from place to place.

Charlie Clift is a editorial and commercial photographer in London.