Martin Parr: Only Human


Charming exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of work by the documentary photographer Martin Parr.

I’ve said before that I love Parr’s work and this show didn’t disappoint. It concentrated on his more recent work but drawing on earlier work to demonstrate how he has followed the similar themes building up an archive of images of British life.

All the work was shown in a large, painting like format, so they were all easy to look at and the show flowed well. The rooms were themed and many were on the topic of the British at leisure at home and aboard. I loved the room of images from horse races showing excited faces in crowds. It was also fascinating to see the room of post referendum pictures which reflect Brexit Britain and I liked the section on the establishment with the amazing picture of the Queen from behind leaving a livery company event.

I hadn’t realised that Parr was behind the BBC One Oneness films which are shown before programmes. They each show a group of hobbyists coming together, taking a still moment, and then breaking up again.  It was lovely to see two walls of the still moments and to have a loop of the films running. It’s funny how even their sound tracks have become a background to my evening particularly in the time after the news when the HD channel can’t play the local news.

It was a lovely idea to have a café in the middle of the show picking up on his seaside pictures and images of British food. I had an obligatory cup of tea and slice of Battenberg and for a few minutes become part of the show.

Closes on 27 May 2019

Reviews
Telegraph
Evening Standard


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28 April, 2019
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