In 2021, photographer and writer, Johny Pitts, and poet Roger Robinson traveled around the British coast in search of an answer to the question 'What is Black Britain?' Their collaboration became Home is Not a Place—which opened at The Photographers’ Gallery this June.
Traveling in a red Mini Cooper, Pitts, and Robinson’s circumnavigation encompassed the coastal, urban, rural, and suburban, via the places in between. Following the coast clockwise, together they set out to document and respond to the many manifestations of Black British culture, and to present an alternative to official and media narratives.
In the exhibition and accompanying book Robinson's poetry sits alongside Pitts' images from around the country. The show's title comes from a quote by American writer James Baldwin ‘perhaps home is not a place, but simply an irrevocable condition’.
Pitts invites you to come in, take a seat and feel right at home - to experience what home means to him - whether you’re flicking through family photo albums, chatting and sharing ideas, or listening to pirate radio playlists from Pitts’ 1980s youth.
