Martin Parr is probably the most famous British photographer and photojournalist.
His shots, characterized by the highly contrasted and bright use of color, tell the story of the (bad) taste and behavior of the English middle class in the 1980s. With irony and subtle humor, Parr ruthlessly focuses on commonplaces and behaviors that are ultimately part of all of culture.
“Before we are forgotten, we will be turned into kitsch. Kitsch is the stopover between being and oblivion.”
Parr investigates the kitsch of the English province, the furnishings and habits, the social rituals of the middle classes. He captures tics and neuroses with almost sociological insight.
His shots smell of cotton candy and candied apples, melted butter on popcorn, plush slippers and prepackaged food, colored nails and backcombed hair, suntan oil, carpet, wallpaper and fake waiting room plants. Consumerism, mass tourism and stereotypes about food.
Parr reveals to us that bad taste and grotesque attitudes will always have a reassuring and necessary familiarity. A pop portrait of the vanity fair, of our little theater of the absurd.
So play Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon on your. Spotify and look at the gallery.
Here is official website.
