Island of Strangers - rough edit - Si Barber Photo Archive

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Island of Strangers - rough edit

Island of Strangers is a photographic document of the impact of the European Union's 2004 enlargement legislation on the peoples of the Fenlands of East Anglia.

The legislation created a new, deracinated workforce in the UK mainly from Eastern Europe. Essential to the economy yet existing below the public gaze, this demographic often lives in parallel rather than in conjunction with the indigenous population.

My photographs aim to capture the experiences of this community as it meets the culture and traditions of the settled population and they both navigate a rapidly changing economic landscape where globalisation means that workers are increasingly regarded as fungible, replaceable assets, who can be compelled to scurry around the world at the behest of corporations and governments.

Farm workers harvesting cabbages during a rain storm near Sibsey, Lincolnshire. Leafy vegetables like cabbages, kale and cauliflow…
The Reverend Ian Cuthbertson of Gosberton Church blessing the Council gritters at Pode Hole Depot, Linconshire where prayers are…
A young woman from Estonia walks along the A47 in Cambridgeshire between shifts at her two jobs at a petrol station and a fast fo…
Migrant workers from Eastern Europe shopping in Boston town centre on a Saturday afternoon.They’ve adopted the ‘gopnik’ look, popu…
David Bishop, aka Lord Byro of the Church of the Militant Elvis Party campaigning at the Sleaford & North Hykeham by-election, Lin…
A hairbrush, a broken mirror, a plate. A makeshift table in an abandoned pigsty inhabited by two Latvian women who came to the U…
Mr & Mrs Morris collecting for the Help for Heroes charity at the Anglia Motel, Fleet Hargate, Lincolnshire.
Algimanta from Lithuania showing the Christmas turkeys at Mr Eagle's poultry auction, Swaffham raceway, Norfolk.
Babak, a Hungarian of Iranian descent, whose parent sought asylum from their home country waits for his friends in Wisbech market…
Mr Andrew Fletcher's 784lb entry to the Soham Pumpkin Fair, Cambridgeshire. The growing of pumpkins in the peat rich Cambridgesh…
Graffiti on a disused agricultural building near Lolworth, Cambridgeshire. The structure, known as the Conington Barn was original…
Councillor Tracey Carter and her mother, Sandra, preparing celebrations for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sus…
Teenagers share a light at King's Lynn Mart, Norfolk. First held in 1204 by a decree of King John and disrupted only by the oc…
In November 2021 the Government made vaccination against the Covid 19 virus compulsory for care home workers. They subsequently p…
Jacob selling selfie sticks in Cambridge. Originally from Slovenia he came to the UK to work in a mushroom processing factory, but…
After his resignation as Prime Minister in September 2022, Boris Johnson's portrait is removed from the wall and Winston Churchill…
On the 'fruities' at the Bus Station Cafe, King's Lynn, Norfolk.
Agostinho from Slovakia waits by the Britannia Cafe for the agency minibus to take him to work. A 'limb' worker in Wisbech, he has…
A demonstration in King’s Lynn objecting to the prorogation of Parliament is challenged by a shopper. Despite the efforts of then…
Members of the Spalding Lithuanian Society celebrating their annual Day Of The Restoration Of Independence with a picnic of tradit…
A room (kolhata) to rent advertisement in a newsagents window, King’s Lynn. The text is in Russian cyrillic and deliberately desig…