If you consider Martin Parr, the word “prolific” doesn鈥檛 begin to do justice to the British photographer. An artist compared to everyone from playwright Alan Bennett to seaside postcard artist Donald McGill, he鈥檚 been active since the 1980s 鈥 when The Last Resort captured the good folk of seaside town New Brighton and propelled him into the public eye. His work has since been shown in over 80 exhibitions globally, while his photographs have been published in over 145 books.
This week sees the cinema release of I Am Martin Parr, an affectionate documentary tribute. 鈥淢artin never stops,鈥 says Lee Shulman, the visual artist behind the film. 鈥淭hat was something I really wanted to show. Photography is great, but photography is also about hard work and the good photographers for me are the people that never stop. They spend every day doing their work. And that is Martin. He just doesn鈥檛 stop.鈥
Schulman, who has lived in Paris for 23 years, is sitting with Parr in a hotel in the French capital, as they gently bicker like a long-standing married couple. Now 72, Parr is in cancer recovery and uses a Rollator to get around. 鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 actually stopped me wanting to go out and take pictures,鈥 he explains. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 scramble over rocks anymore and I can鈥檛 go for nice country walks, but I鈥檓 alive and well so I can鈥檛 complain!鈥
Parr and Shulman first met in 2018 at the Arles Photography Festival, and since collaborated on D茅j脿 View, which paired Parr鈥檚 images with amateur photographs discovered between the 1950s and 1980s (Shulman runs The Anonymous Project, an initiative dedicated to collecting and preserving mid-century colour slides). Their friendship was 鈥渓ove at first sight,鈥 jokes Shulman. 鈥淢y wife used to say, 鈥榊ou spend more time with Martin than me!鈥 Which is still the case!鈥
Still, it鈥檚 not hard to see where his and Parr鈥檚 interests dovetail in capturing British iconography. Eschewing the idea of doing a traditional cradle-to-the-grave portrait, Shulman suggested that he and Parr go on a road trip. 鈥淚t couldn鈥檛 be better timing. It was the coronation [of King Charles III]. This was great. Timing is everything in life. So we kidnapped Martin, stuck him in a van and we went around the U.K., and revisited some of the famous and infamous places that he photographed in his books.鈥
Contributors to the documentary include the likes of Grayson Perry and David Walliams, but the real juice comes from Shulman鈥檚 interviews with the mischievous maverick. 鈥淚 wanted him to tell his story,鈥 says Shulman, who made the choice to only feature audio of Parr鈥檚 answers in the film, cut to the footage they filmed across what he calls 鈥渢he summer of Martin.鈥 鈥淗e constantly interviewed me, hoping to get a better take,鈥 groans Parr. 鈥淵ou know how it is with directors! He鈥檇 ask the same questions again, hoping the answer is more eloquent than the last one.鈥
Parr鈥檚 work effortlessly captured Britain at its most tragicomic, but it鈥檚 not escaped criticism, with some believing that his uncanny eye for photographing working-class Britons was patronising. 鈥淲hen he started and he showed The Last Resort鈥t was very controversial,鈥 says Shulman. 鈥淚 mean it was controversial in London, not in the north where he shot the pictures. People were very happy with it. But the institutional world of art was very shocked.鈥 Parr seems not to care a jot. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e always an outsider,鈥 he remarks.
The film arrives in an era of Instagram and the iPhone, when the proliferation of digital imagery has arguably diluted the power of the image. But Parr disagrees. 鈥淭here will always be pictures that rise to the surface. That鈥檚 how we remember the world really. It鈥檚 easier to remember the world through still images than through film. Like the Vietnam War 鈥 you鈥檝e seen all that rolling film but, ultimately, it鈥檚 the images from the great photographers that went there that you鈥檒l remember.鈥
Parr made the transition to shooting on digital years ago and never looked back. 鈥淥nce you鈥檝e made the jump, there is no going back. And it鈥檚 weird to me when all these young people are obsessed with doing analogue photography.鈥 But in a time when everyone is an amateur photographer, armed with a camera-phone in their pocket, there has been a conscious rise in interest in photographers like Parr. So whatever next? A biopic of his life, maybe? But who could play him? 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 really considered that,鈥 smiles Parr. 鈥淵ou got any ideas?鈥
is in cinemas now.
Words: James Mottram
Image Credits:
1,3 &5. New Brighton, England, 1983-85. Martin Parr. 漏 Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.
2. Elland, England, 1983-85. Martin Parr. 漏 Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.
4. Wedding at Crimsworth Dean Methodist Chapel, Hebden Bridge Calderdale, 1977. Martin Parr. 漏 Martin Parr / Magnum Photos.
