Anna Fox is a British social documentary photographer and educator, known for her pioneering work and stylish flair, close-up views of communities.

In Fox’s series Resort 1 – published, together with a second series, Resort 2, as a book – the photographer trained her lens on Butlin’s holiday camps, first opened in 1936 as vacation destinations for working class families. The images were originally produced as a commission from Pallant House Gallery, funded by Butlin’s, the National Media Museum and University for the Creative Arts. Shot on large format cameras – deliberately used to aggrandize – Fox was inspired by John Hinde’s 1970s studio portraits. Both theatrical and banal, they are the epitome of the British holiday spirit, no matter the season, shot through with Fox’s characteristic wit and sharp sense of humour: here a Father Christmas figure stopping awkwardly as he emerges from his kitsch grotto.

Works from Fox’s iconic series Work Stations – shot in forty offices across London over a year and a half period in the 1980s – are currently showing at Tate Britain as part of the major group exhibition ‘The 80s: Photographing Britain’ on view until May next year.

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