“After leaving many years ago I returned to find a country frozen in time. Whilst London had flourished the communities of the economic north were left behind. Cities once full of factories were filled with foodbanks, barbershops and fading hopes.”
In the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum, photographer Merlin Daleman returned to the UK after many years living abroad. Once rooted in the West Midlands, now based in the Netherlands, Daleman was compelled by a sense of disquiet—to understand the divisions that had surfaced so starkly during the vote, and to revisit the places of his past with new eyes. What he found was a country frozen in time: while London had surged ahead, much of the economic North had stood still.
Over the course of his journey, Daleman visited more than 60 towns and cities—from Aberdeen to Bangor, Fife to Skegness. His photographs move quietly through high streets and housing estates, seafronts and inland canals, revealing a landscape shaped by industrial decline, economic dislocation, and a tenacious sense of community. Often passing through on foot, he captures fleeting moments of humour, warmth, and endurance—signs of life persisting amid boarded-up shopfronts and rain-soaked streets.
The accompanying essay by journalist Niels Posthumus draws on an interview with economist Philip McCann to contextualise the work within a broader geography of inequality. Nowhere else in Europe, McCann argues, does wealth divide so sharply along regional lines as it does in the UK. London’s economy outpaces the next fourteen British cities combined, a disparity reflected not only in numbers but in the lived experience of disconnection and marginalisation. It is in this context that many communities in the North voted to leave the EU—not necessarily out of ideology, but as an act of protest, a refusal to be forgotten.
“My images tell the story of a fractured Britain. The towns and cities that voted for Brexit in 2016 were in my view an act of defiance against a system that ignored them. This is the Britain that London often forgets…. I seek to reflect the frustration and
resilience of those who have been left behind, highlighting the social and economic fractures that challenge the idea of a “united” United Kingdom. I strive to tell the story of a divided nation—and a story of resilience.”
Mutiny is both a portrait of loss and a quiet testament to resilience. It documents not only economic decline but the strength and spirit that remain. In doing so, it challenges us to reckon with the true cost of division—and to reconsider what unity in the United Kingdom really means.
Mutiny by Merlin Daleman is published by GOST in August 2025.
