In 2021, the writer and photographer Johny Pitts joined the poet Roger Robinson for a tour around the British coast on a quest to answer one question: what is Black Britain? Navigating the coastal, urban, rural and suburban, Pitts and Robinson sought to document the numerous manifestations of Black British culture they came upon, hoping to offer an alternative to the official and media narratives that are often thrust upon Black Britons.

The result of their collaboration, Home is Not a Place, is a melding of the artists’ minds. With photos by Pitts and poetry by Robinson, the exhibition, held at The Photographers’ Gallery in London, is a meditation on British Blackness that places the concept of home at its centre.

Taking its title from a James Baldwin quote (“perhaps home is not a place, but simply an irrevocable condition“), the exhibition recreates Pitts’ 80s childhood. Pirate radio playlists and furniture from his youth recreate the atmosphere, in which Pitts describes “a Black or working-class community could feel at home”. Many of his family contributed to this room set – everyone is welcome to take a seat and feel at home.

Home is Not a Place runs at The Photographers’ Gallery June 23rd – September 24th. The book Home is Not a Place, which combines Pitts’ photographs with poems by Roger Robinson, was published by Harper Collins UK in September 2022.