Martin Parr

by Martin Parr (Photographer)

Collected in this portfolio are provocative color images from a British photographer who has become the most successful of his generation. Martin Parr has best expressed himself through books (Home and Abroad, Think of England, The Last Resort) in which he uses a subjective documentary approach that is often at odds with the more journalistic style of reportage. His focus on the themes of mass tourism, mass consumption, mass marketing, and global homogenization shows us an environmentally destroyed world in which the major saving grace is a gritty, very British sense of humor. 7A collection of provocative color images from a British photographer who has become the most successful of his generation. Martin Parr's work is the subject of an exhibition traveling through Europe in 2004. 7Parr's use of a documentary approach to show us an environmentally destroyed world is amply illustrated in books such as Home and Abroad, Think of England, and The Last Resort.

93 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2004

About the author

Martin Parr was born in Epsom, Surrey, UK in 1952. When he was a boy, his budding interest in the medium of photography was encouraged by his grandfather George Parr, himself a keen amateur photographer.

Parr studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic, from 1970-1973. Since that time, Martin Parr has worked on numerous photographic projects. He has developed an international reputation for his innovative imagery, his oblique approach to social documentary, and his input to photographic culture within the UK and abroad.

In 1994 he became a full member of Magnum Photographic Corporation. In recent years, he has developed an interest in filmmaking, and has started to use his photography within different conventions, such as fashion and advertising.

In 2002 the Barbican Art Gallery and the National Media Museum initiated a large retrospective of Parr's work. This show toured Europe for the next 5 years.

Parr was appointed Professor of Photography in 2004 at The University of Wales Newport campus. He was Guest Artistic Director for Rencontres D'Arles in 2004. In 2006 he was awarded the Erich Salomon Prize and the resulting Assorted Cocktail show opened at Photokina. In 2008 he was guest curator at the New York Photo Festival, curating the New Typologies exhibition. At PhotoEspana, 2008, he won the Baume et Mercier award in recognition of his professional career and contributions to contemporary photography.