Made In England

Michael Browne with his painting

Like many people in Moss Side, Michael Browne’s experience of England is of a black Britain in an inner-city area influenced by attitudes and cultures from Africa and the West Indies.

So what would he make of somewhere as traditionally ‘English’ as the Lake District? Would his painting reflect Wordsworth’s 19th century romanticism, or the realities of urban and rural England in 2008?

This was the challenge he was set for Made in England, the BBC arts project being launched on St George’s Day which examines how our culture is defined by the art we produce and vice versa.

Gingerbread

Michael says: "I was obviously inspired by Wordsworth and the landscapes he wrote about but after suspecting that some of the secret ingredients for the traditional ‘English’ gingerbread made in Grasmere came from the West Indies, it seemed natural to combine that culture with the culture of the countryside as well as with the city."

Multi-cultural: Michael's painting

The result was a painting which brought together the lady from the Gingerbread shop with a friend who runs Manchester School of Samba.

"She represents our perception of Englishness while he is a symbol of multiculturalism," he said.

"He is offering his spices but would like her daffodil (flower) in return! She is also reaching out to take an apple from a tree – I wanted a Garden of Eden feel to represent Christianity which again, for me, links strongly to Englishness."

“I wanted to examine what we perceive as Englishness and the reality of what this actually means in today’s multi-cultural society.”

Made in England was shown on Wednesday 23rd April, at 10.40pm on BBC One. It is available for seven days after broadcast on the iPlayer.

You can see Michael’s painting in the café area at Manchester Art Gallery from 22 April 2008.