Martin Parr (born May 23, 1952, Epsom, Surrey, England) is a renowned British documentary photographer, photojournalist, and photobook collector. He is best known for his satirical and vividly colorful depictions of modern life, particularly British culture. He developed an interest in photography at a young age, influenced by his grandfather, who was a keen amateur photographer. He studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) from 1970 to 1973. His Photographs are characterised by their use of bright colors, offbeat humour, and a critical eye on consumerism and social class. He began his career photographing the rural communities of the north of England in black and white. However, in the 1980s, he transitioned to color photography and adopted a more satirical tone. His style is often ironic, humorous, and unflinching, examining themes like consumerism, social inequality, globalization, and leisure. He is noted for using macro lenses and ring flashes to achieve his signature aesthetic.
Martin Parr has cited several key influences throughout his career, spanning both photographers and broader cultural figures. Here are the main ones:
1. Tony Ray-Jones was the most significant early influence. He was known for documenting English life with humour and irony in the 1960s. Unfortunately he died young. Parr has said Ray-Jones “showed me that photography could be about your own culture, your own people.”
2. Henri Cartier-Bresson was a founding member of Magnum Photos, Cartier-Bresson’s humanistic and observational style had an early impact on Parr, though he later moved in a more satirical and colorful direction.
3. Gary Winogrand and Garry Gross were American street photographers who influenced Parr’s candid, observational style—especially in how they captured absurdities of everyday life.
4. William Eggleston was a key influence on Parr’s use of color. Eggleston’s pioneering use of color photography in the 1970s validated Parr’s own shift to color in the early 1980s.
5. John Hinde was known for brightly coloured postcards of British holiday camps. Parr admired the staged artificiality and saturated color, and even recreated some of Hinde’s Butlins scenes early in his career.
6. Diane Arbus focussed on eccentric, often marginalised individuals and her photographs influenced Parr’s interest in the peculiarities of everyday people.
Parrr also drew inspiration from British popular culture, television, advertising, and mass consumerism, using these as raw material for his satirical take on modern life.
Parr joined the prestigious Magnum Photos agency in 1994, despite some controversy due to his unconventional style. He later served as president of Magnum from 2013 to 2017. He has published over 100 books and curated exhibitions around the world. His work has been shown in major institutions such as the Tate, the National Portrait Gallery (London), and the Martin Parr Foundation, which he founded in 2017 to support documentary photography and archive British photographic history. Major works:
“The Last Resort” (1985) – A series documenting working-class families on holiday in New Brighton, England. It marked a turning point in his use of color and flash.
“Signs of the Times” (1992) - A portrait of the Nation’s tastes
“Small World” (1995) – A critical look at global mass tourism.
“Common Sense” (1999) – A garish, close-up exploration of global consumer culture.
From-Butlins-by-the-Sea-1972
Untitled New Brighton 1983-85
When I Looked at the Wallpaper and the Wallpaper Looked at me we Instantly Fell in Love Signs Of The Times, 1991
Stratford-Upon-Avon-1974
Untitled New Brighton 1983-85
Glastonbury Festival 2023