Pål Hansen photographed this series on a large-format, analogue camera and then buried the images underground. The resulting scratches and damage are, says the London-based photographer, symbolic of the “scars and marks” that Britain has left on the Windrush Generation – immigrants from Caribbean colonies, invited by the British government to rebuild the UK after the Second World War.

In the last 12 years, many of these people have faced deportation and been denied rights, benefits, and even re-entry to the UK, after the government destroyed documents proving individuals’ right to remain in the country. Hansen says his process erodes the film in the same way “the government attempts to erase the individuals from the British landscape”.

The photographer showed the series in Britain for the first time in 2022, at the Windrush Generation Legacy Association’s gallery space in Croydon.

palhansen.com