In 2006, setting out to better understand the rise of nationalism then (as now) evident in the UK, as well as notions of Englishness, photographer Mark Power and poet Daniel Cockrill travelled around the country on several road trips, stopping at a range of towns and cities along the way.

The project continued over the next four years, and as time progressed they witnessed the country slide into a recession and the government introduce austerity measures, although little seemed to alter in the fabric of the landscape. What they did notice was something more abstract, more of a state of mind among the population as many began to blame others - and immigration in particular - for perceived misfortunes. Cockrill attempted to catch something of this mood in his poetry while Power continued to photograph the backdrop against which the story unfolded.

The work was exhibited in 2010 and has now been published as a book. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s possible to sense the changing mood in the country, of which last month’s BREXIT vote was perhaps the sad but inevitable conclusion.

Destroying the Laboratory for the Sake of the Experiment is available through Mark Power’s website <a href='http://www.markpower.co.uk/destroying-the-laboratory-for-the-sake-of-the-experiment-book' target='_blank'>HERE</a>