Martin Parr
Encyclopedia
Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take a critical look at aspects of modern life, in particular provincial and suburban life in England. He is a member of Magnum Photos
.
, Surrey
, Parr wanted to become a documentary photographer from the age of fourteen, and cites his grandfather, an amateur photographer, as an early influence. From 1970 to 1973, he studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic now Manchester Metropolitan University
. He married Susan Mitchell in 1980 and has a daughter named Ellen Parr (born 1986). He also has a son named Darren Parr (born 1989).
. Recent work has included a collaboration with designer Paul Smith
in Ilford
, capturing people wearing Smith's Autumn/Winter 2007 collection. In 2008, he was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University
in recognition for his ongoing contribution to photography and to Manchester Metropolitan University
’s School of Art.
and his team of photographers. The images made by Hinde and his team are a key influence on Parr's colour photography.
As an admirer of this medium he has published several photobooks as well as a work about photobooks. The Photobook: A History (in two volumes) covers more than 1,000 examples of photobooks from the 19th century through to the present day. The work was a collaboration with the critic Gerry Badger
which took eight years to complete.
He was cameraman on the film, It's Nice Up North
with comedian Graham Fellows
as his character John Shuttleworth. The film is a comic documentary filmed over several years in Shetland
and was released in 2006.
and satirical
. Macro lenses, ring flash
, high-saturation colour film, and since it became an easier format to work in, digital photography
, all allow him to put his subjects "under the microscope" in their own environment, giving them space to expose their lives and values in ways that often involve inadvertent humour. For example, to create his book Signs of the Times: A Portrait of the Nation's Tastes. (1992), Parr entered ordinary people's homes and took pictures of the mundane aspects of his hosts' lives, combining the images with quotes from his subjects to bring viewers uncomfortably close to them. The result of Parr's technique has been said to leave viewers with ambiguous emotional reactions, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
Parr has had almost 50 books published, and featured in around 80 exhibitions worldwide - including an exhibition at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. In 2007, his retrospective exhibition was selected to be the main show of Month of Photography Asia
in Singapore.
He is the subject of a song by French song-writer Vincent Delerm
(Quinze Chansons, 2008).
His work was discussed as a cover by Tracey MacLeod
in the (in)famous 1989 Late Show 'Amateurs, Amateurs' Stone Roses
power surge edition.
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo...
.
Early life
Born in EpsomEpsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.-History:Epsom lies...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Parr wanted to become a documentary photographer from the age of fourteen, and cites his grandfather, an amateur photographer, as an early influence. From 1970 to 1973, he studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic now Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
. He married Susan Mitchell in 1980 and has a daughter named Ellen Parr (born 1986). He also has a son named Darren Parr (born 1989).
Photographer
Parr began work as a professional photographer and has subsequently taught photography intermittently from the mid-1970s. He was first recognised for his black-and-white photography in the north of England, Bad Weather (1982) and A Fair Day (1984), but switched to colour photography in 1984. The resulting work, Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton, was published in 1986. Since 1994, Parr has been a member of Magnum PhotosMagnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo...
. Recent work has included a collaboration with designer Paul Smith
Paul Smith (fashion designer)
Sir Paul Smith jr, RDI, is an English fashion designer, whose business and reputation is founded upon his menswear. He is both commercially successful and highly respected within the fashion industry....
in Ilford
Ilford
Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...
, capturing people wearing Smith's Autumn/Winter 2007 collection. In 2008, he was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
in recognition for his ongoing contribution to photography and to Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
’s School of Art.
Collector
Besides being a photographer, Parr is a keen collector of postcards, photographs and various other items of vernacular and popular culture, and many of his collections have been used as the basis for publications. Since the 1970s, Parr has collected and publicised the garish postcards made between the 1950s and 1970s by John HindeJohn Hinde (photographer)
John Wilfrid Hinde was an English photographer whose idealistic and nostalgic style influenced the art of postcard photography and was widely known for his meticulously planned shoots....
and his team of photographers. The images made by Hinde and his team are a key influence on Parr's colour photography.
As an admirer of this medium he has published several photobooks as well as a work about photobooks. The Photobook: A History (in two volumes) covers more than 1,000 examples of photobooks from the 19th century through to the present day. The work was a collaboration with the critic Gerry Badger
Gerry Badger
Gerald David "Gerry" Badger is a writer about, and curator of photography, and a photographer.The two volumes of The Photobook: A History, which Badger co-wrote with Martin Parr, won the 2006 book award for photography from the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation...
which took eight years to complete.
Documentary filmmaker
Parr's first contact with the medium of film was his collaboration with Nick Barker from 1990-1992, taking pictures to accompany Barker's film Signs of the Times. In 1997, Parr began producing his own television documentaries with Mosaic Film.He was cameraman on the film, It's Nice Up North
It's Nice Up North
It's Nice Up North is a 2006 comedy documentary made by comedian Graham Fellows as his alter ego John Shuttleworth.It was filmed by photographer Martin Parr and edited by Fellows on his laptop on a very low budget....
with comedian Graham Fellows
Graham Fellows
Graham David Fellows is an English comedy actor and musician, best known for creating the characters of John Shuttleworth and Jilted John.-Early life:...
as his character John Shuttleworth. The film is a comic documentary filmed over several years in Shetland
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
and was released in 2006.
Photography practice
Parr's approach to documentary photography is intimate, anthropologicalAnthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
. Macro lenses, ring flash
Ring flash
A ring flash, invented by Lester A. Dine in 1952, originally for use in dental photography, is a circular photographic flash that fits around the lens, especially for use in macro photography...
, high-saturation colour film, and since it became an easier format to work in, digital photography
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...
, all allow him to put his subjects "under the microscope" in their own environment, giving them space to expose their lives and values in ways that often involve inadvertent humour. For example, to create his book Signs of the Times: A Portrait of the Nation's Tastes. (1992), Parr entered ordinary people's homes and took pictures of the mundane aspects of his hosts' lives, combining the images with quotes from his subjects to bring viewers uncomfortably close to them. The result of Parr's technique has been said to leave viewers with ambiguous emotional reactions, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
Parr has had almost 50 books published, and featured in around 80 exhibitions worldwide - including an exhibition at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. In 2007, his retrospective exhibition was selected to be the main show of Month of Photography Asia
Month of Photography Asia
Month of Photography Asia is an international festival of photography organised in Singapore since 2002.The festival serves as a platform to promote photography both as an art form and as a creative industry...
in Singapore.
He is the subject of a song by French song-writer Vincent Delerm
Vincent Delerm
Vincent Delerm is a French singer-songwriter, pianist and composer. He is the son of the writer Philippe Delerm....
(Quinze Chansons, 2008).
His work was discussed as a cover by Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod is a journalist and broadcaster who has presented a range of BBC arts and music programming, including The Late Show 1989-95 and its musical offshoots New West and Words and Music, Edinburgh Nights The Booker Prize and The Mercury Music Prize...
in the (in)famous 1989 Late Show 'Amateurs, Amateurs' Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
power surge edition.
Books
- Bad Weather. London: Zwemmer, 1982. ISBN 0302999965
- A Fair Day: Photographs from the West Coast of Ireland. Salem House, 1984. ISBN 0907797105
- The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton. Dewi Lewis, 1986.
- One Day Trip. Editions de la différence, Pas-de-Calais, 1989.
- The Cost of Living. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0893814393. Cornerhouse, 1989. ISBN 094879755X
- Signs of the Times: A Portrait of the Nation's Tastes. Cornerhouse, 1992.
- Bored Couples. Paris: Gallery du Jour, 1993.
- Home and Abroad. London: Jonathan Cape, 1994. ISBN 0224031325
- From A to B: Tales of Modern Motoring. BBC Books. ISBN 0563369841
- Small World: A global photographic project 1987–1994. Stockport, Cheshire: Dewi Lewis, 1995. ISBN 1899235051
- West Bay. Rocket Press, 1997.
- Food. Galerie Agnès B, 1998.
- Japonais Endormis. Galerie Agnès B, 1998. ISBN 2906496294
- Common Sense. Dewi Lewis, 1999. ISBN 1899235078
- Sguardigardesani. Milan, Charta, 1999.
- Benidorm. Sprengel museum Hannover, 1999. ISBN 3891691459.
- Boring Photographs. 2000. (Photographs of Boring, Oregon: not postcards. Edition limited to 12 signed copies.)
- Think of England. Phaidon. Hardback, 2000. ISBN 0714839914. Paperback, 2004. ISBN 0714844543
- Flowers. Munkedals: Munken & Trebruk, 1999. Galerie Du Jour Agnès B, 2001.
- Cherry Blossom Time in Tokyo. 2001.
- Martin Parr. London: Phaidon. Hardback, 2002. ISBN 0714839906. Paperback, 2005.
- Martin Parr. Portfolio. Te Neues. ISBN 3570194450
- Tutta Roma. Contrasto, 2007. ISBN 8869650162
- The Phone Book: 1998-2002. Rocket Press, 2002. ISBN 0946676534. ISBN 3980664724.
- Martin Parr Postcards. London: Phaidon, 2003. ISBN 0714843458
- Mexico. London: Chris Boot, 2006. ISBN 0954689488.
- Fashion Magazine. ISBN 9782952410205.
- Fashion Newspaper. Tokyo, 2007. Published to accompany an exhibition.
- Autoportrait. Stockport, Cheshire: Dewi Lewis, 2000. ISBN 1899235728
- From Our House to Your House: Celebrating the American Christmas. Stockport, Cheshire: Dewi Lewis, 2002. ISBN 1899235345
- Boring Postcards. London: Phaidon, 1999. Hardback ISBN 0714838950. Paperback ISBN 0714843903)
- Boring Postcards USA. London: Phaidon, 2000. Hardback ISBN 0714840009. Paperback ISBN 0714843911
- Langweilige Postkarten. London: Phaidon. ISBN 0714840629.
- Saddam Hussein Watches. London, 2004.
- David Goldblatt: Photographs. Milan: Contrasto. ISBN 8869650154
- Our True Intent Is All for Your Delight: The John Hinde Butlin's Photographs. London: Chris Boot, 2002. ISBN 0954281306
- Bliss: Postcards of Couples and Families. Chris Boot, 2003. ISBN 0954281330
- The Photobook: A History. (with Gerry Badger) London: Phaidon.
- Vol 1. 2004. ISBN 0714842850
- Vol 2. 2006. ISBN 0714844330
- Martin Parr. by Sandra Phillips. Phaidon, 2007. ISBN 9780714845289
- Parr World. Postcards. Chris Boot, 2008. ISBN 9781905712106
- Parr World. Objects. Chris Boot, 2008. ISBN 9781905712083
- Playas. RM and Chris Boot, 2009.
- Joachim Schmid Is Martin Parr · Martin Parr Is Joachim Schmid. Self-published, 2009.
- Japan. Super Labo, 2011.
External links
- Martin Parr's site
- Interview with Martin Parr at BBC Blast
- Information about Martin Parr and video clip at BBC GCSE Bitesize
- Audio interview with Martin Parr (MP3)
- Interview with Martin Parr from 'Tous Photographes!'
- Permanent Collection of the Joy of Giving Something
- Tate: In the Studio: Martin Parr The artist on photographing Britain. 30 April 2007.