Us Brits have had plenty of soul-searching to do this summer. In sharp contrast to the positivity that imbibed London’s hosting of the Olympic Games in 2012, things have been entirely different four years on. As Team GB compete in Rio’s pharmaceutical-liberal Games, those back home, and those of us who live abroad, have once again struggled with our identity.

The hangover of centuries of oppressing others has been tough to shake, national pride has always been quelled by an air of guilt, discomfort in what it has and does represent. Rich in culture that we’ve never been afraid to celebrate, preoccupied by class, confused in identity — the many faces of Britishness have proved excellent material for those looking in from behind a lens. Uniting 29 diverse photographers, active from the 1920s to present day, a new exhibition at London’s Beetles+Huxley examines this labyrinthine subject.

‘The expansive historical scope and variety of styles amongst the photographers represented in An Ideal for Living underlies a constant preoccupation with what defines British identity.’ Explains curator Flora La Thangue. ‘The exhibition has been curated with the breadth of cultural identities within modern Britain in mind, but also reveals historical and geographical patterns emerging through the photographs.’

From Henri Cartier-Bresson’s sardonic documentation of the crowds at King George VI’s 1937 coronation to Derek Ridgers celebrating London’s defiant 1980s countercultures, through Martin Parr and on to contemporary artists like Anna Fox and Simon Roberts, An Ideal for Living is the good, the bad, and the beautiful of all from rebelliousness to hopelessness. Riots, punks, fish and chips and ecstasy.

The full list of artsits featured goes like this: Richard Billingham, Bill Brandt, John Bulmer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Peter Dench, Raymond Depardon, Elliott Erwitt, Anna Fox, Frank Habicht, Bert Hardy, Thurston Hopkins, Emil Otto Hoppe, Mahtab Hussain, Colin Jones, Philip Jones Griffiths, Chris Killip, Neil Libbert, James Morris, Martin Parr, Charlie Phillips, Tony Ray-Jones, Derek Ridgers, Simon Roberts, George Rodger, Jurgen Schadeberg, Syd Shelton, Jo Spence, Chris Steele-Perkins

An Ideal for Living: Photographing Class, Culture and Identity in Modern Britain continues at Beetles+Huxley, London, until 17 September.

@Beetleshuxley

Martin Parr, Untitled (Girl Serving Ice Cream), 1983-85
© Martin Parr, Image Courtesy of Beetles+Huxley

Chris Steele-Perkins, ‘Girls Dancing in Wolverhampton Club’, 1978
© ARTIST, Image Courtesy of Beetles+Huxley

Syd Shelton, Bagga (Bevin Fagan), Hackney, 1979
© Syd Shelton, Image Courtesy of Beetles+Huxley