Brexit, Boundaries and the Power of Images

Abstract

In this article, I explore how both the phenomenon of Brexit, (its desire to reassert national boundaries from an EU seemingly bent on dissolving them), and that of the EU (a pluralist community, with membership inevitably eroding boundaries) may be very effectively captured, and important insights gained, through the medium of images. I here interpret the concept of an image broadly, as comprising not only the “high” art of notable artists and art galleries, but also the workaday - the advertisement, the photograph, the cartoon - such images as are all around us.