Martin Parr
‘To a certain extent all photography is exploitation’ (parr, 2003)[1]
Not having been able to access the link in the course manual I’ve turned to another video to piece together some of Parr’s thought on himself and his work. He makes the statement that his works is imbued with hypocrisy and prejudice. With regards to this statement he is talking I believe about his observation of the middle classes in his further down the line investigations of their customs and consumer habits. Parr, himself a middle class suburban child, is in a sense making a statement about his own aspirations as those of the middle class in general. As he is aspiring, so are they. This then, might be where the hypocracy comes in if the bases of his photography was to somehow make a critique of that sector of society.
As for his prejudice, this I find less easy to respond to. Does he refer to his style of interpretation and seeing? Is it that he has a predilection for catching people out and showing the ill at ease moments of the English and their ways? I am not entirely sure.
references
- Parr, M. The world according to Parr (2003) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCRyB2SFQZ4 [access, 2020]
