When he worked on the book, he frequented a run-down sea-side resort in New Brighton (a mostly working class area) from 1983-1985. Parr described the seaside as: “…if the seaside was tatty, and more than a little run-down, it was also vibrant.” In this image we have one of what I think are the strongest images in the book– a young-looking mother on the bottom of the frame, feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed out from her baby crying above. The mother is looking out of the frame– perhaps wondering when this stressful vacation will be over. The baby (as cute as it looks with the pink umbrella above) — is crying and wailing her lungs out– a sound that most parents have a difficult time getting used to. We are very excited to present this collaboration as our inaugural exhibition at Cromwell Place. It champions the iconic work of Martin Parr, one of the most loved UK photographers, while bringing attention to the skills of the ‘unknown photographer,’ and asking us to question what makes a great photograph — a thought-provoking and relevant question. Of course, it also contextualizes and sheds light on the visual vocabulary of Martin Parr’s work — one of the great photographers of our time.’ - says Francesca Pinto, Global Gallery Director at Magnum Photos. That also meant my photographs looked a certain way, but I wanted to keep my costs low so I could work freely,” he adds. “I never wanted to sell pictures to get commissions, I hated that sort of documentary story. The documentary photographs people seemed to love seemed to be arrive, spend a few days, get 10 pictures. I believed pictures should be useless. I did a bit of part-time teaching so I’d have that freedom to just do the work.” The greater concept that comes to mind is parental responsibility– should’t someone take care of the baby? Or are we so distracted by games and amusement that we totally forget about them now?

It was a particular moment in the 80s,” says Parr. “New Brighton has changed; it’s been somewhat gentrified. I was there last weekend and it’s not as scruffy. So the work is to do with that moment in time, in the midst of Thatcherism and just before the lido closed. The whole energy of the place was part of that.” Note you also get a great sense of intimacy in the shot considering how low Parr got to take this photo — while also getting close to his subjects and filling his frame. His major projects have been rural communities (1975–1982), The Last Resort (1983–1985), The Cost of Living (1987–1989), Small World (1987–1994) and Common Sense (1995–1999). The gesture of the boy is quite interesting– he has his arm stretched out as if he were an actor on a stage. Who is he performing to? And you can see his “stage” is full and littered with trash. Regardless– the kid looks like he is having a great time.The Last Resort is an unwavering series of photographs that featured the working-class seaside resort of New Brighton, situated in Merseyside, as the primary subject.

To play with this dog sequencing– you have another shot, this time with two little chihuahua-looking dogs. One in the bottom left is parking directly at Parr, while the other is looking away. And in the center of the frame, you see a woman exclaiming how cute the younger woman’s baby is– not noticing the little dog barking at Parr. Secondly, the book has a great sense of emotion in the images– and a wonderful cadence (flow) of images. There are images that feel quite sad, lonely, and melancholy– while other shots are much more humorous, silly, and cheerful. But I think what makes many of the images great is that this line is often blurred– you are never sure if people are really having a good time (or simply trying to escape from their misery). In the image of the younger woman with the baby in the orange spaceship– she looks obviously bored, and even the baby looks like it is trying to escape from this boring ride.And, maybe because of this softness, Wood’s images are liked by the people they depict – even when they’re shown out partying and ‘looking for love’ in the Chelsea Reach, then the local nighttime hotspot. His book Looking for Love was in every hairdresser’s in the area, he says, and the only negative comment he got was “remind me not to kiss in public”. When he showed an exhibition called The Pier Head at Open Eye in 2018, 1000 people came to the opening. “They were, like, queueing to get in,” he says. First of all, I think almost all of the photos in the book are strong single-images. I feel that the majority of the images could stand on their own. They have strong compositions, well-executed framing, and a wonderful color aesthetic which is brought out by the superb detail of the medium-format negatives as well as the flash used in the middle of the day. There are a few images in the book that I think Parr could have done without– but this is just my opinion. Not only that, but the baby looks quite surprised at Parr taking the photograph (almost as much as surprised as the mother). Martin Parr’s distinctive style of photography captures the oddities and humours of everyday British life through a vibrantly coloured, hyper-realistic lens. At the beginning of the 1980s Parr’s work aimed to mirror the lifestyle of ordinary British people, reflecting the social decline and distress of the working class during the era of Margaret Thatcher. He earned an international reputation for his oblique approach to social documentary, and for innovative imagery. The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton (1986) was Parr’s first project to show a move towards his now distinct personal style: bright colours and vivid images, gaining him the reputation as a renowned satirical photojournalist. Other of Parr’s series include Bad Weather (1982), Common Sense (1995-99), and Signs of the Times (1992). Wood’s photographs are also (mostly) colour, but he uses a distinctive pastel palette which, perhaps, helps add the softness to his “toughness”. He says it’s partly inspired by the photographs he saw when he was starting out, which – because it was the 1970s and both photobooks and photography exhibitions were scarce – were snapshots and postcards rather than documentary photography, printed in colour but faded with time.