Jack Orton photographs Portland, the island that provided stones for Britain's most famous buildings

The quarries weren't the only workplace Jack immersed himself in; one day he also found himself on a fishing boat. “These guys work incredibly hard, starting at 5am and finishing at 5pm, then heading to the pub,” says Jack. This grueling profession is made a little easier by the camaraderie Jack witnessed among the fishermen. This was reflected in the pod of dolphins that followed the boat on its journey, a typical sighting for the workers but one that they were nevertheless excited to show Jack. “It felt like an interconnected moment,” he says, “reflecting the complex relationship between the men's lives and their environment.”

Some encounters, however, were more complicated. One image shows a handwritten sign carefully taped to the inside of a dusty car window. The sign reads, “I will not apologize for being a white heterosexual male.” This shot stuck with Jack throughout the project, mostly because he was “so surprised that someone had taken the time to write and tape it up. [it] to her car window.” Despite that initial reaction, Jack tried to step back and look at the scene objectively. “The sign reflects a defensiveness toward perceived societal changes and debates about identity, privilege and responsibility,” he says. “It speaks to the emotions men may feel in response to evolving cultural narratives around race, gender and sexuality.” In a certain light, Jack muses, it could be seen as a sign of vulnerability, albeit one of male aggression and misplaced anger.

For Jack, photography allows for a level of ambiguity unmatched in other media, largely due to its ability to blur the lines between reality and fantasy so seamlessly. This ambiguity makes Anima the beguiling series captures a place many in Britain have never been or heard of – but one of the few places in the country still marked by industrial manufacturing. He hopes it will get his audiences to engage with complex (but sometimes simplistic) issues like mental health and work-driven lives in a way they may never have before. Ideally, Jack adds, Anima could also sow a positive seed of change in still entrenched perceptions and representations of masculinity. “In nature, rocks and stones are constantly changing, taking on new shapes and forms depending on the influence of the elements,” he says. “This shows that even the most seemingly unchanging parts of our environment are subject to change, and reminds us that we too must be adaptable.”