Martin Parr
Martin Parr
Martin Parris a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world. His major projects have been rural communities, The Last Resort, The Cost of Living, Small Worldand Common Sense...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth25 May 1952
best consume cookery fashion food looking looks people pictures travel
Fashion pictures show people looking glamorous. Travel pictures show a place looking at its best, nothing to do with the reality. In the cookery pages, the food always looks amazing, right? Most of the pictures we consume are propaganda.
buy food looks package photo sold
If you go to the supermarket and buy a package of food and look at the photo on the front, the food never looks like that inside, does it? That is a fundamental lie we are sold every day.
trying looks propaganda
Choosing sepia is all to do with trying to make the image look romantic and idealistic. It's sort of a soft version of propaganda.
alone galleries york
There are 65 to 70 photography galleries in New York alone. In the U.K., there are no more than five, and they're all in London.
fine good image says terms touch
When someone says to you, 'Oh, I don't take a good picture,' what they mean is they haven't come to terms with how they look. They take a fine picture, it's just that their image of how they think they look is not in touch with the reality.
filming
Filming is always a challenge because I'm not used to it. But I approach it head-on. I'm not technically brilliant, but it's the spirit that counts.
hard
We live in a homogenized world, where it's hard to get excited when everything is slick and professional. The interesting things are the dull things.
We live in a difficult but inspiring world, and there is so much out there that I want to record.
exotic subject
Most of us, when we go out with a camera in our own country, try to find exotic subject matter to photograph.
love platform privileged
I love curating, because I'm lucky and privileged that I have a platform and I can share my discoveries with other people.
passed
My father was an obsessive bird-watcher. The genes of observation passed down.
family local prepare struck valuable vietnam visited
When I visited Vietnam for Oxfam, the thing that really struck me was how the local farmers had to prepare to evacuate or climb to their mezzanines with their valuable family possessions.
work
There are elements of irony in my work, of course.
subject taboo
Photographers never want to talk about the fact that they may well be in decline. It's the greatest taboo subject of all.