Photographer Arnhel de Serra gets under the skin of British culture

Anglo–Spanish photographer Arnhel de Serra has a talent for capturing the idiosyncrasies of our culture which I presume is at least partly down to the perspective inherent in having mixed heritage. In projects like Shows and National Trust he succeeds in showing that these quintessentially British features are not abstract environments but events where people come together and passions are shared.

His is a multilayered approach, which sets as much store in the dozing elderly National Trust visitor as it does the sweeping vista of the property itself, and values the intimate moments in a shady vegetable tent as much as the big set-piece country show stalwarts. As a mirror on ourselves it’s not just accurate, but charming too.

His work will be on show as part of the London Festival of Photography which starts in June.