<\/p>\n
As a teenager, he became interested in the work of major figures in documentary photography such as Bill Brandt and Henri Cartier-Bresson<\/strong>, and understood that photography could become a true language through the lens of art. At the age of 16, he produced a series of photographs centered on a fish and chips shop<\/strong>. A mundane subject, yet a revealing one, foreshadowing his sensitivity for capturing everyday life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1970, Martin Parr entered the photography department of Manchester Polytechnic and graduated in 1973<\/strong>. During his studies, he continued to observe and document daily life, notably through a project on a psychiatric hospital. The budding artist began his career in a favorable context, as documentary photography was experiencing a real boom in the United Kingdom. His attention to the ordinary, his interest in social interactions, and his desire to go where others did not look already defined his style.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the time, Martin Parr focused on black-and-white photography<\/strong>. He settled in northern England at the end of his studies and began photographing rural life and small communities<\/strong>. He thus initiated a sensitive body of work on collective memory, nostalgia, and the disappearance of traditional ways of life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the 1980s<\/strong>, he gradually abandoned black and white in favor of color photography, with vivid, saturated tones and frequent use of flash<\/strong>. This choice became one of his major visual signatures<\/strong>. Based in Liverpool and then Brighton, Martin Parr undertook documentary series centered on popular everyday life: beaches, holidays, the working class, modest leisure activities, and the emerging consumer society<\/strong>. His name spread within artistic circles, drawn to his striking images and a style focused on social truth, irony, and satire<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Last Resort<\/em><\/strong> (1982\u20131985) is the flagship series of this decade. Parr photographs working-class holidaymakers on a seaside beach, exposing scenes of modest leisure, often raw, where kitsch meets social reality<\/strong>. This series is often cited as one of the first milestones of what would be called the \u201cnew color documentary photography.\u201d The works are exhibited, giving him international visibility.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nFrom black and white to color<\/h2>\n
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