An incomplete anthology of vernacular English custom and tradition

These images are a selection from an ongoing body of work re-visiting a major project documenting English Calendar Customs produced by the artist in the 1990s. This new work presents contemporary photographs of the events alongside a documentation of related material culture collected by the artist over many years. These traditional seasonal events have long been documented by folklorists, photographers, the popular press, and members of the communities concerned and this new work reflects on this desire to preserve and archive whilst also exploring the changes that recent years have brought and the role such events play in contemporary, post-digital, post-Brexit communities. If to the outsider these customs might at times appear anachronistic, harking back to an idealised rural past, they continue to play a vital role in the communities they serve. No longer solely the preserve of white male performers, they have become increasingly gender and ethnically diverse, in part out of necessity as rural populations have fallen, but also as a reflection of contemporary society. As long as such events have been studied and collected concerns have been voiced regarding their survival and indeed some have ceased to exist. However, at the same time, others have been revived and new traditions have been created. The Internet has made information much more accessible increasing visitor numbers and general interest, leaving many events as vibrant today as they have ever been. At the same time social media provides instantaneous dissemination of images and first-hand reports providing new forms of online archives.