For much of his career, Martin Parr has excelled at skewering the eccentricities and peculiarities of contemporary national culture in his native Great Britain and beyond--in particular those having to do with food, tourism, bad fashion choices, and . . . more food.
On a recent exploratory trip to Mexico, Parr was struck not only by the native culÂture, but also by the clear impact of AmerÂica's pop culture and economy on Mexican life--the juxtaposition of Mickey Mouse with brightly colored saints, Nike logos with Day of the Dead skulls, and Coca Cola with cacti. The resulting pictures are Parr's first new thematic series of photographs to be published in book form since The Phone Book (2002), and an exhibition of these photographs is currently on show at the Janet Borden Gallery.
'Mexico' presents his journey into and beyond the country's clichés. We are at once in recognizable territory--many of the visual themes will be familiar to Parr fans, includÂing colorful and mocking close-ups of food, hats, signs, and souvenirs, garishly shot with medical efficiency. Yet, there are new motifs here, too. The series includes portraits of working men sporting baseball caps with local and American brand names. What is unusual for Parr is that he also grips us with straight records of human faces, with phoÂtographer and subject both in the act of mutual contemplation.
Parr's 'Mexico' photographs are typically comic, balancing affection and rudeness toward his subjects, while a darker underlyÂing theme emerges--as in much of his later work--of the corruption of authentic cultural forms by global consumer culture. This work both critiques and celebrates this corrupÂtion. As he puts it, "What I am saying is that it's a good and a bad thing. I'm constantly trying to express ambiguity. And that's what photography does very well."
'Mexico' is published by Aperture:
$32, hardcover
81 four-color images
88 Pages
11.625" X 8.25"
ISBN: 978-1-59711-031-0.
Tijuana, 2003 (above), a new limited edition print by Parr is now available for $560 from Aperture.
MARTIN PARR
'Mexico', to 22 Nov 2006
Janet Borden, Inc.
560 Broadway
New York NY 10012
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