The interview was conducted in 2018 for Contemporary Lynx 1(9)2018 magazine. We are revisiting it due to the photographer’s recent passing. We extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends.
The girl behind the ice cream counter holds your gaze and pouts as she fences off a frenzy of children rallying behind her. A middle-aged couple sit at a restaurant table, their vacant expressions withdrawing into the dull magnolia wallpaper. The unforgiving starkness of the blistering midday sun descends over swarms of bathers at the public baths. Martin Parr is best known for The Last Resort (1983–1985), his unflinching portrayal of the delights and horrors of the great British seaside in the dilapidated resort of New Brighton, Merseyside. Seeing the absurd and banal in the unremarkable everyday, Parr’s photographs are unmatched for their dynamic compositions, garish colours and unflattering chiaroscuro, a jibe at the homogenous airbrushed photography which dominates the media.
A pioneer of social documentary photography, the Bristol-based photographer has been recording the changing face of Britain for over 40 years. He has travelled the world studying selfie-stick armoured hoards of tourists and leathered sunbathers, and has amassed an international archive of photographs of food, the socio-cultural signifier binding communities together. In the photobook Real Food (2016), a plate of slimy bacon, waffles and a gleaming dome of egg yolk taken in Florida is displayed alongside rows of Polish hams incubating underneath the counter of a ‘polski sklep’ (‘Polish shop’) in Hull. Parr’s photobooks are a democratic method of enabling his art to be experienced by a wider audience — after all, the protagonists of Parr’s works are ordinary working people (as seen in The Black Country series from 2011 and Portrait of a City exhibition in 2017), people that remind you of your neighbours or the familiar faces you see at the bus stop every morning. Photobooks such as The Martin Parr Colouring Book! (2017) and the re-edition of Autoportrait (2016), featuring a silver pinball maze circling Parr’s face, show Parr experimenting with the boundaries of publishing, creating an object-artwork in itself.
Parr’s commitment to photography is unwavering, having opened a permanent site for his eponymous arts centre, the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, last October [2018]. The foundation will host exhibitions by British and international photographers documenting Britain, and holds an archive of its work and an extensive photobook collection by British and Irish photographers.
In this special moment, we speak to Parr about the changes he has witnessed in the British landscape over the years and his most recent photobooks.
Maggie Kuzan: The Martin Parr Foundation is set up to preserve the legacy and archive of your work. You have depicted the working classes, for example, in the Black Country series and in The Last Resort. What kind of histories do you hope to record?
Martin Parr: Well, I am building an archive up about my own work, but in particular the UK, Scottish sections, Irish sections, the working class, upper class, the establishment…it is a very wide-ranging archive.
MK: One of your most recognisable photographs belongs to your seminal work, The Last Resort. Could you tell us a little bit more about that series?
MP: That was quite a long time ago now, but it was a good series. You know, I was showing people on this rather shabby backdrop, but people were still having a day out with the kids. So it is really the contrast between the domestic activity and the backdrop that I wanted to highlight.
MK: You will be showing some new work as part of The Great British Seaside exhibition at the Royal Museums in Greenwich in the spring/summer. How much has the seaside environment changed since you started photographing it?
MP: I guess 40 years ago, it was much more exclusively white. The thing that is interesting about this new set of work is that it is taken down in Clacton, and we have seen a lot of immigrant communities coming to the seaside, almost taking over the British habit of the seaside and applying it to their own needs and means, so it is quite an interesting take on the new twist to the British seaside.
MK: What about new communities in the United Kingdom? You have taken photographs of Polish supermarkets for your food series on Hull for the 2016 book Real World. The Polish supermarket has become a staple on many British high streets.
MP: Yeah, I mean that’s one of the things that we didn’t really see 20 years ago, the rise of the Eastern European communities in Britain. It is quite significant, because of the EU, of course, and Polish supermarkets, as you say, there’s one in virtually every town now, and they weren’t here. So that is another change you can isolate as being interesting and significant.
MK: As somebody who has been documenting everyday life for over 40 years, what have been the biggest shifts and changes you have witnessed?
MP: I guess society is more homogenised, things like the smartphone, selfie sticks… These are all part of a new landscape, which were not there when I started. So they are the main things, really. And fashion change, it is always fascinating to look at fashion from the 80s because it looks much more interesting now than it did at the time, and the same will apply… it is only after we take in now in 50 or 40 years’ time.
MK: And your work is a reflection of society…
MP: Yes, it is my interpretation, it is very subjective, quite personal, but it is obviously rooted in what is happening. The personal truth rather than the truth.
MK: Street photography relies on the element of chance. With social media being used as a platform for photography, do you think we are losing some of that spontaneity?
MP: Yes and no. There are all these countless photos taken, but some of them are spontaneous, so I can’t really answer one way or the other here. It depends on who it is and what they are doing, and what their motivation is and what they are hoping to achieve.
MK: Now with smartphones and Instagram filters, everybody is able to take a photo of an idealised version of themselves. What are your thoughts on this?
MP: Yes, I like that. You know we get bored with a number, but nonetheless, it is a good option; it is fascinating. It is just part of the modern landscape; I incorporate people taking these photos into my pictures quite frequently.
MK: Your photobook project Autoportrait started as a side project when you travelled across the world, having portraits of yourself taken in kitsch, tacky photobooths and photostudios. What was it like having had the photographic gaze turned onto yourself?
MP: I did it as a necessity because I was the only person who would consistently be there when I was travelling around, so it was the obvious thing to do. There was no problem because it was just part of the work. But you know, I get photographed countlessly. When I do a book signing or a talk, I have people queuing up for a selfie, so being photographed is nothing new for me; it happens all the time.
MK: Your photobooks are archive documents of the past. Where do you hope they will appear in generations to come?
MP: I am represented by Magnum, so they will continue to license and distribute my work after my demise, and the books will still be there. That is the great thing about books, they just keep on going. I don’t think about it too much, I am really thinking about what I am doing this week rather than what I will be doing in 40 years, apart from being dead!
MK: You reach out to a new younger audience with the publication of the Martin Parr Colouring Book! (2017). Why did you decide to make a colouring book?
MP: Aperture offered it as a concept, and I just liked it immediately. You know, it is something different, a bit of fun — what is not to like?
MK: Are you working on any new photobooks?
MP: I am doing a book about Manchester, and next year I have a very big show in London, so I am working on a catalogue to go with that.
