Rob Stothard at the Scottish Border

Rob Stothard is a London-based photographer whose work has focussed on contested borders in Israel, Egypt, and Ukraine. Recently, he stayed closer to home, photographing Scottish towns near the border with England. There will be a referendum on independence in Scotland this Thursday, and recent polls show that the vote is too close to call. (John Cassidy has answered ten questions about the referendum.)

Stothard is interested in the idea of the border between Scotland and England becoming more significant. “The region is infused with the visual culture of Scotland, but its history is also very British,” he said. He described seeing the Union Jack alongside bagpipes at a traditional border-riding ceremony in Selkirk. If the independence referendum succeeds, Stothard told me, it will likely be “the hardest area for the idea of independence to take hold.”