Martin Parr

Martin Parr is one of the best-known British documentary photographers. For more than forty years, he has used humor, irony, and strong color to show modern life, especially leisure, tourism, and consumer culture. His photographs often turn ordinary moments into sharp observations about society. Parr studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic and later became internationally recognized for projects such as The Last Resort (1986), which documented seaside life in New Brighton, and Small World (1995), a global look at mass tourism. In 1994 he joined Magnum Photos, where he later served as president.

He has published over 100 books and exhibited worldwide, with major shows at Tate Modern in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and many other institutions. His work is included in the collections of Tate, MoMA in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Beyond his own photography, Parr is also a leading collector and curator. He has built one of the most important private collections of photobooks and has edited many influential anthologies. In 2017 he founded the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, dedicated to supporting British and Irish documentary photography. Find out more. (Website, Instagram, YouTube)