Simon Roberts

The result of photographer Simon Roberts' one year journey, Motherland is a bold visual statement about the nature of contemporary Russia 15 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Roberts traveled throughout Russia between July 2004 and August 2005, making pictures in more than 200 locations and creating one of the most extensive, comprehensive photographic accounts of this vast country by a Westerner. His images are not clichéd representations of a Russia ground down by poverty and despair; rather, Roberts presents a beautiful, awe-inspiring land with a dignified people empowered by a growing optimism and a deeply rooted sense of national esteem. Intimate and revealing portraits of contemporary Russians show us a diverse people united by a sense of common identity, while breathtaking landscapes reveal the complexity and uniqueness of the country.

We English is the highly anticipated result of London-born photographer Simon Roberts' year-long journey around England. With his wife and daughter, Roberts caravanned around his country, documenting its landscapes, both natural and social, with a large format 4 x 5 camera. "There is no such thing as a definitive set of images that encapsulate Englishness," Roberts has said; "We English is about social landscapes but it is not about social or political analysis. It does not seek to define but simply to represent." Roberts, who was born in 1974, is informed by the photography of predecessors such as Tony Ray-Jones, John Davies and Martin Parr, by the Romantic tradition of English landscape painting, and--notably--by the paintings of Pieter Brueghel and L.S. Lowry. Roberts merges these influences with his own impulses, depicting the English at leisure in bucolic settings in a manner that is all his own, resulting in a work that is beautiful, accessible and heartwarming. We English is the most significant contribution to the photography of England since John Davies' The British Landscape (1979-2005). Following the critical success of Motherland (2007), this is Roberts' second book, superbly designed by the award-winning team at Fuel.