#1429. Homage to Martin Parr

The artist and the source of inspiration pass away

Of course, the two mean the same thing. One isn't an artist if they don't inspire. And one doesn't inspire, if they're not an artist.

Martin Parr, the hyperrealist, passed away a couple of days ago. I have nothing to add to the many erudite articles celebrating his work (BBC)(NYT)(The Guardian)(...) except for a thank you.

I only met him once, extremely briefly. He shook my hand while I was preparing the layer cake workshop with a gallery owner, a few years ago, and that's it. My father approached him a couple of years later to get him to sign a copy of a book he later gave me on Christmas. And that's it.

My thanks, then, have nothing really personal to them. What I'm grateful for, on top of the many giggles and sighs of admiration at his extraordinary collection of images, is how he brought to modern times some concepts that are now mostly lost in the past (at least in the West).

Most saliently, his portraits. At a point in time when people seek companionship on apps or AI bots, exhibit their life on social media, but consider someone photographing them like an enemy, someone passing judgment and taking something from them, his work is priceless.

I think anyone in that position of fear and defiance can browse through Mr Parr's books and find humour there, point of view, perspective. But never criticism or hate. If anything, I think it takes extraordinary care to take note to the point that he did. So I'm grateful for Mr Parr's contribution to the shaping of our society and hope that his most inspiring photographs reach many in the days to come, when they are (more) publicly celebrated. May they inspire viewers to trust more in others, and in photographers in particular.