Home Is Not A Place

by Roger Robinson, Johny Pitts

A gorgeously produced, hugely original examination of Black Britishness in the 21st century

What is Black Britain?

In 2021, award-winning poet Roger Robinson and acclaimed photographer Johny Pitts rented a red Mini Cooper and decided to follow the coast clockwise in search of an answer to this question. Leaving London, they followed the River Thames east towards Tilbury, where the Empire Windrush docked in 1948. Too often, that is where the history told about Black Britain begins and ends – but Robinson and Pitts continued out of London, following the coast clockwise through Margate to Land’s End, Bristol to Blackpool, Glasgow to John O’Groats and Scarborough to Southend on Sea. Here, the authors found not only Black British culture long overlooked in official narratives of Britain, but also the history of Empire and transatlantic slavery to which every Briton is tethered.

Home Is Not a Place is the spectacular result of the journey they documented: a free-form composition of photography, poetry and essays that offers a book-length reflection upon Black Britishness – its complexity, strength and resilience – at the start of a new decade.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Photography

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 29, 2022

Reviews

[Callum Morris-Horne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given as a gift by a lovely colleague and fellow Robinson fan, Alex. Although not as poetically virtuoso as Robinson’s phenomenal ‘A Portable Paradise’, I liked the way this book embraced the more offbeat, experimental, but ultimately more artistically fulfilling ‘B-side’ aesthetic theory posited within. Like that earlier T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize-winning text, this contains eye/mind-opening ekphrastic pieces which ponder the representation of Blackness in Art; from Turner to Sidibé. ‘Home is Not a Place’ is a collaborative work uniting photography, poetry and select prose; this collection potently capturing a psychogeography of Black Britain—from Glasgow to Margate, comprised of both positive and negative exposures—with its aperture fully open to the synergy and synchronicity of Black joy.

[Carmijn Gerritsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new all-time favourite! This is a newly created archive of photographs, poems and essays on the topic of Black Britishness. It discusses the white gaze, cultural memory, trauma, colonialism, etc. I really liked how poetry and photography were combined in order to evoke a sense of poignancy. It also made me think of art as a softer form of activism. Will be buying this for myself very soon!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

first book of 2023
really enjoyed this. the relationship between the photography and poetry was so interesting and i think this is one i'll come back to for sure.

[nikolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

just really really beautiful and phenomenal.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems, readings and photos from Black Britain. Johnny Pitts can do no wrong for me.

[Rosamund · Rating 5 out of 5]

How better to start 2023 than with a five star collection of poetry and photography? This is a gorgeous but thoughtful collaboration that documents aspects of Black Britain.

[Apaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the front of the book there is a quote from Bernadine Evaristo saying she will return to the book again and again. Only having finished it do I understand this. The normalcy of the photos is what makes them great. The prose of the poetry telling stories never heard of places, some assumed to be all white and the people that live there. At the end it says to think of it as a contribution to Britain’s imaginary family album, of the everyday humanity of the Black community in Britain.

Normally I save 5 stars for books that make me cry, but the 5 stars here are for it not making me cry, rather for the intimacy in the normal displayed here.

This is art to keep coming back to.

[Bella Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collaboration is simply pure art! It's extremely powerful and such an experience from front to back!

[Roland Ramanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey around the UK coast with a poet and a photographer has produced a beautiful and in depth meditation on Black Britishness. New and old photos by Johny Pitts combine with powerful words from Roger Robinson. Excellent.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realised as I was reading this that I’d seen the accompanying exhibition at the Photographers Gallery. Evocative mix of candid shots and poetry that capture the Black British experience and what the coast can mean as a boundary for identity and for exclusion.

[Gagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really delightful read and I loved the relationship between the poetry and the photography. Pitts’ reflections on the choice of photos at the end of the book made me appreciate it even more - how capturing the mundane is documentation. One I can see myself pulling off the shelf often.

[Georgina · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow intimate normal powerful

[Jahaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is it possible for a book to capture the essence of home in its pages?

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roger Robinson
Home Is Not A Place
William Collins
160 pages
8.0

[Kellen Cooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh! Goddamn did they do it. Nasty! Beautiful. Gentle. They don’t miss!