'Dogs and their Owners' by Dougie Wallace

East London-based photographer Dougie ‘Glaswegee’ Wallace grew up in Glasgow, Internationally recognised for his long-term social documentary projects and a distinct direct style of expressive street photography. His photo book Harrodsburg won the inaugural 'Magnum Photography Award 2016'. Dougie has had 5 books published to date. ‘A series of portraits of dogs and their owners with the focus on the dog as a prognosis of the British public at large.

Although the faces of the owners are never in shot, the images are shot wide, taking in the surroundings; the front door, the hedges and the flagstone indicating where in Britain it is. The project focuses on the dogs and what they say about their owners and regional tendencies. With signifiers in the backdrops such the local stone, i.e. flint in Sussex, sandstone in Glasgow, the viewer will not need annotations to know where about in the country the picture is taken. The various breeds and the cut of the owner’s cloth indicate the social status and locale.