Britain in full color: why photographer Sophie Green refuses to make her subjects look grey

A tight crop of a smiling young dancer's face and throat, her red lips and gap-toothed grin set above a spectacular orange costume collar encrusted with large iridescent crystal gems. — Irish Dancer, Kent Championships, Kent, UK. From the series Fast Feet & Feis, 2022. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

There's a quote in the press release for Sophie Green's forthcoming exhibition that will resonate with any photographer who's been told their work is a bit much. A friend, she recalls, once described her aesthetic as looking like "a kid who ate loads of Skittles and vomited them back up". Her response: "It's the best compliment I've ever received."

That chromatic fearlessness is immediately evident in the images Green has shared ahead of Tangerine Dreams: Rituals of Belonging in Contemporary British Life, which opens at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol this summer.

There's a racegoer at Ascot with a miniature horse paddock, complete with white fencing and model horses, built into the brim of her hat. There are twin boys at a horse fair, slicked back hair and Polo shirts, almost mirror images of each other. There's an Irish dancer's crystal-encrusted collar catching the sun at the Kent Championships. All of it shot on film; all of it saturated and alive.

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A racegoer at Ascot, seen from above, wears a wide-brimmed straw hat transformed into a miniature racecourse, complete with artificial turf, white fencing and small horse figurines. — Horsey Hat, Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, UK. From the series Pedigree Power, 2016. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

Two young men with identical dark, heavily gelled curls stand shoulder to shoulder at Kenilworth Horse Fair, one in a red polo shirt and one in a pink stripe, a caravan visible behind them. — Hair Match, Kenilworth Horse Fair, Warwickshire, UK. From the series Gypsy Gold, 2015. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

A young woman in a gold lam&eacute; skirt and ornate beaded jacket holds the lead of a Yorkshire Terrier posed on a red satin plinth, both standing before a vivid red pop-up tent. — Elise & Sienna the Yorkshire Terrier, Bath Canine Society Dog Show, Bath, UK. From the series Doggy Style, 2021. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

This is all the result of spending more than a decade embedded in communities that rarely receive documentary treatment without a trace of condescension: banger racers, traveller families, modified car enthusiasts, dog show devotees, church congregations. Her engagement with the banger racing world alone spans 11 years. She doesn't turn up, shoot and leave; she comes back again and again, until people stop performing for the camera and simply live.

The Martin Parr connection

The exhibition carries an additional layer of meaning from its venue. The Martin Parr Foundation, which supports photographers working in Britain and Ireland, holds Parr's archive following his death in 2025. Green had a close working relationship with him in his final years, inviting him to review her archive in 2024 as she prepared this very project.

Three people in white ceremonial dress and red accessories hold folded fans against a peeling grey wall in London; one looks directly at the camera while the other two face each other in profile.

Peju, Roda & Posi, London, UK. From the series Congregation, 2018. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

A person sits smiling beneath a large dome hood dryer in a warm amber-toned Peckham salon, a pink towel around their shoulders and a wig mannequin blurred in the background. — Lady in Hair Steamer, The Make Over Salon, Peckham, London, UK. From the series Wefts & Tracks, 2016. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

A teenage girl with double bun hair stares directly into the camera while clutching an enormous rustling bundle of yellow carnival ride tickets at New Brighton Beach fairground. — Emily, New Brighton Beach, Liverpool, UK. From the series Beachology, 2020. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

Parr's enthusiasm was particularly strong for her five-and-a-half-year series on life and death rituals across Britain's multicultural communities; he noted the near-total absence of funeral photography from our visual culture and urged her to keep going. "Shoot more," he told her.

Green was subsequently invited to document Parr's own funeral. Those photographs will be shown alongside Tangerine Dreams in a vitrine display, making this exhibition both a debut and a tribute.

What photographers can learn

Green's practice is a useful counterpoint to the increasingly rapid churn of documentary photography. In an era when a project can feel complete after a single weekend's shooting and a well-curated Instagram grid, she's spent years building trust with people who've every reason to be wary of cameras. The banger racing crowd, traveler communities, Afro-Caribbean church congregations she's photographed since 2018: these are communities that have often been misrepresented, reduced to cliché or simply ignored.

Her technical approach is equally considered. The images have the warm, slightly unpredictable quality of medium-format film, all grain and tonal richness. Color here isn't just a stylistic choice; it's almost an ethical position. To photograph Britain's margins with the same chromatic generosity usually reserved for fashion shoots is its own kind of manifesto.

A close-up portrait of a young woman in a neon yellow bandeau top applying lip gloss with dramatically long white stiletto nails, large gold bamboo hoop earrings framing her face on a crowded beach. — Simone’s Nails, Southend-on-sea Beach, Essex, UK. From the series Beachology, 2020. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

A tattooed mechanic drills into the crumpled bonnet of a red banger car while a young blonde boy watches intently, cradled by a woman in a blue off-shoulder top at Smallfields Raceway. — Banger Mechanic & Family, Smallfields Raceway, Surrey, UK. From the series Bangers & Smash, 2024. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

Two young men in matching white t-shirts sit back-to-back in a fairground ride car, a peeling red and gold circus tent rising behind them against a clear blue sky at Weston-Super-Mare. — Fair Ride Twins, Weston-Super-Mare Beach, Weston Super Mare. UK. From the series Beachology, 2020. Courtesy of the Martin Parr Foundation. (Image credit: Sophie Green)

She's also clear-eyed about the stakes. Council restrictions, gentrification and prejudice are eroding the spaces many of these communities depend on. Photography can't stop that, but it can leave a record. "Gatherings that persist in spite of these pressures," she says, "become acts of cultural resistance."

Tangerine Dreams was self-published as a photobook in 2025 and sold out within a week. A second edition will be released to coincide with the exhibition. If you missed the first run, don't make the same mistake twice.

Tangerine Dreams: Rituals of Belonging in Contemporary British Life is at the Martin Parr Foundation, 316 Paintworks, Bristol, BS4 3AR, UK, from June 4 to September 6, 2026. Entry is free. An artist talk and book signing takes place on June 17. Gallery opening times: Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm; Monday to Wednesday, open on request.

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Tom May is a freelance writer and editor specializing in art, photography, design and travel. He has been editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. He has also worked for a wide range of mainstream titles including The Sun, Radio Times, NME, T3, Heat, Company and Bella.