Exhibition, Martin Parr

Martin Parr Exhibition


During Easter I visited the Martin Parr exhibition at the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield. I chose to vist this exhibition as part of my professional practice as not only is Martin Parr one of the photographers I am most inspired by however I have been wanting to attend exhibitions so I can take notice of the way the exhibitions are curated as I feel this is a very important aspect of photography and the industry which I now need to be taking a much deeper interest in, not only because I will soon be venturing out into the industry myself however also because I will soon be presenting my own work in my degree show upon graduation. 

The reason the exhibition was held in Wakefield which is something many may question if they aren't up to date with Parr's work is because his most recent work focus' around the documentation of the farming of Rubarb and the rhubarb industry, which is something which mainly takes place in the area of wakefield. Wakefield farm rhubarb, produce various products for the market from it and intact hold a Rubarb festival every year. I was personally aware that Parr had documented the Rubarb industry in his work as I had seen them online prior to my visit to the Hepworth.

I throughly enjoyed seeing some of martin Parr's most famous work form the 1980's during the thatcher era, as this is the first work I was ever familiar of by Martin Parr. His work from 'Last resort' which I also got to see is work which I still now like to look back on and gain inspiration from. Documenting people and especially social classes I'm familiar to such as the working class is something which I have always been naturally interested in, so it really was so useful to be able to see another photographers work who is also drawn to these subjects. 

Considering Parr is one of my favourite photographers, I thought the aspect that would inspire me most about going to his exhibition was what was in the images them selves. However the way that the exhibition had been curated and presented in the Hepworth was something which really took me by delight and surprise. There was such a vast variety in terms of how the work was presented, each room portraying a different project by Parr was each presented very differently.


Images varied in placement and in size. Some of his older more traditional work was framed and presented very clearly and concisely, with images all being the same or a similar size, as eye height, equally spread apart.

While other projects from his more recent work was placed all over the room, some very high and some low, all in different sizes ranging from large to small prints such as A4 size. These images which were scattered across the walls were not framed, they were pinned to the walls in quite a carefree style. I was amazed to see this style as I found it extremely creative and experimental. Seeing this style of layout made me think different about exhibitions as I feel far too often, in my own mind, I typically think of exhibition prints all to be framed and placed in an orderly fashion like the images I saw of Martin Parr's earlier work. Considering my own personal work very much focus's on similar aspects to Parr's work such as social classes, every day people, British people and bright colours, it would be very useful for me to keep this in mind when I consider presenting my own work.

What has come to my attention upon reflection of this exhibition is that Parr has chosen to present his work accordingly to the style of the work or what the work is intending to portray. For example, Parr's earlier work where he is documenting various classes but in particular the 'middle' class, where he has taken images of middle class brits at 'Conservative parties', he presents these images in a more traditional style, framed and spaced evenly. In comparison to his work about consumerism, which can be seen in the image above, these images are presenting tightly packed together, all the same size, across one large wall. The presentation is bold and 'in your face' just like the style  of the actual imagery. 

This exhibition was something I thoroughly enjoyed and is something I feel I have been able to take a lot from in terms of educating my own professional practice.