A portrait of Britain by Niall McDiarmid

Niall McDiarmid has travelled to over 200 towns across Britain in the past seven years, taking more than 2,000 portraits. A selection of McDiarmid’s photographs are shared in a new book and a forthcoming exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol: here, we talk to him about how he creates his work, and why it occasionally proves controversial.

Niall McDiarmid is creating a slow portrait of Britain as it looks today. Since 2011, he has journeyed from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands, from the North-East to the often-overlooked environs of Nuneaton, capturing images of over 2,000 people he has met along the way.