The photographer talks about how his new photo book, Mutiny, captures the backstory of the Brexit vote and how he combines the documentary and the artistic tradition, while never losing sight of the humanity and humour of its subjects

When I first saw photographs from Merlin Daleman’s photo book Mutiny (2025) in the Guardian, I was struck not only by the book’s topic – northern England post-Brexit – but also by the photographs’ artistic qualities, their composition and lighting, reminding me of Dutch old master paintings. Daleman was born in the UK but has spent most of his life in the Netherlands, where he moved, aged five, with his Dutch mother. Having made the opposite journey, I was interested in Daleman’s take on British life through the – literal and symbolical – lens of an outsider.

“I was very surprised by the Brexit vote, as many of us were,” Daleman tells me over Zoom. “Nobody I know had voted for Brexit, so I asked myself the question: ‘Who are the 52%?’ (Actually, my sister voted for Brexit, but she kept that very quiet.) I compiled a list of the top 15 councils that had the highest Brexit vote and, by coincidence, at least 12 of them were also the most impoverished areas in the UK.” Daleman decided to visit these places, resulting in the photo book Mutiny, published in August.

Read the full interview on Studio International