Tim Smith\u2019s sensitive documentation of Britain\u2019s Asian subculture serves not only as an exploratory tool into the inner workings of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani life in this country, but also lends flashlit insight into how, as a nation, we function as a multicultural society. Showcasing the roles that the Asian community fills, Smith\u2019s images provide quiet celebration of the transition from migratory workforce to vital presence.<\/p>\n
As much as this transition has not been simple or without discrepancy, the subdued tone and intuitive format of this publication perhaps hints at how a faction of society can so successfully install itself as a very necessary vertebra in a country\u2019s backbone.<\/p>\n
Despite Smith\u2019s preference for revealing individual distinctiveness there remains a strong sense of the binding power of community. This, combined with Naseem Khan\u2019s accompanying text, provides a gentle overview of a perpetually diversifying world, where values often collide and identities change but where ideology is seldom shifting.<\/p>\n
A criticism, as needs must, is that the printed project is entirely black and white. The Asian community is one of colour: in its appearance, in its diet, in its rich cultural heritage. I fail to understand why conveyance of this has been compromised by an insistence on the monochromatic.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, this book is a testament to Asian success in Britain and moreover the UK\u2019s success in cultural diversity. <\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s exploration finds the Anglo-Indian wedding in Cumbria and the snow-capped Mosques of Bradford, the Glasgow-stani judge and Manchester\u2019s \u201cCurry Mile\u201d, all in perfect harmony. And that is never an easy thing in those cities.<\/p>\n
Andy Ferguson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Asians](\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Asians_in_Britain.jpg\" "\\"Asians")
<\/a> Tim Smith<\/span>
Published by Dewi Lewis
132 pp, hardback
\u00a315.99<\/span>
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