Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book identifies instances in which processes of decolonisation have been manifested in visual form, some of which are better known and others that are lesser known points of emphasis within a broader visual elision of the imperial as the post-war era proceeded. It suggests that the continuing power and currency of colonial geographies in which the binaries of 'here' and 'there' were maintained in the establishment and affirmation of 'place-myths'. The book illustrates how visual technologies enabled a negotiation of new experiences in a former colony. It explores this re-imagining of Britain in which empire was almost forgotten within a narrative of national insularity that actively excluded the new migrants from the former colonies as people who did not belong to the imagined community of the 'island race'.