Social science through the lens

A unique collection of images taken by leading photographer Chris Clunn have gone on display for the first time in Sheffield as part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science. The Visualising Identities and Social Action: Lives in Britain Today exhibition, currently on display at the Workstation in Sheffield, includes images of the everyday lives of young Somali people in Sheffield, to life on working class estates in Norwich. The photographs also capture the neighbourhoods and history of segregation in Northern Ireland and the transition involved for women as they become first-time mothers. All of the photographs in the exhibition were taken as part of research projects investigating identity issues in contemporary UK, including a study by the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds which focussed on the lives of young Somalis, aged 11-18, in Sheffield. The research explored the ways in which young Somalis´ identities and affiliations are shaped by their experiences. It found that community space for migrant groups, such as Somalis, is important in giving these groups the security to feel they belong to a nation. However it is still the case that young people are wary of claiming a British identity because `British´ is still implicitly imagined as a white identity.