APW — Mikey Lennon

A Pilgrim’s Way

In response to the rise of the exclusionary politics of hate that I have witnessed in the last few years in the UK, I decided that as a photographer, I have a responsibility to create work that pushes against this ideology. I am proud of my country, not for its colonial past, but for its quintessential Englishness – the natural beauty, the kind people in villages that have offered me a seat on the bus, and the stubborn insistence we must hold doors open for one another. I feel as if folk culture acts as a combination of the three; being deeply rooted in nature and the landscape, being kind and charitable – creating communities and uplifting others and absolutely refusing to be pushed into the shadows. The project acts as a documentation of the English landscape through the lens of contemporary folk, and with myself becoming the titular Pilgrim on his way to find the magic of English folklore, and the
unspoken sensations that emerge from observing the land’s astonishing beauty.

Shot entirely on medium format cameras, this project has been an intentionally considered shooting experience In a time where convenience and instant gratification are becoming increasingly commonplace, I chose to defy this insistence of ‘innovation’ and instead return to traditional darkroom and analogue practices. I view this project’s production as an act of radical defiance against artificial intelligence and ramping development of technology as a whole – pushing as far as I can from the state of complacency that these ‘innovators’ seem to want us in. The art of analogue photography lends itself to the craft-based roots of folk practice – with each one of my images acting as a physical artefact of the event that I recorded. I like to view these images in this way, since the long hours of dedication in the darkroom producing these photographs could be likened to a ritual. Toiling away in the darkness for long periods of time and emerging with a shining new creation. In a way, all contemporary art practices are folk – folk has always been by the working people for the working people, and if something exists to celebrate and uplift community – it feels folk enough to me.

Taken over the course of the emergence of spring in 2026, it has aligned fantastically with the crux point of most folk practices – being the turn of new seasons, with most of these festivals happening in response to the Spring and Summer. I had the privilege of attending the spring equinox celebration at
Stonehenge this year, and it was a moving time for me. I realized that folk culture had never really gone anywhere, with some people I spoke to telling me that they have been coming to Stonehenge every year since the 1970’s. I knew that it was important for me to represent these people in an
authentic and uplifting manner – it is very easy to get caught up in the spectacle of folk practice, and not appreciate the sentiment behind it. Folk is a celebration of life, new life, and plainly being alive.

In shooting this project, I have been pulled into folklore, photographic processes and out of a hole I was in for a very long time. I’m very thankful for that. These images highlight the quiet sentiment of English Folklore, that everyone is on the same level. We are all the children of Albion, and the very chalk that we stand on has great significance. I can only hope that this project will share with people that contemporary folk is alive and well, and that
maybe the next time they find themselves deep in the English landscape, they will think about how they got here.