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Martin Parr has passed away.

tcolgate

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Sad news (confirmed on the foundation's site). It's hard to express how well Parr captured a particular (and often silly), aspect of British culture.
We have a postcard of this framed in our seaside themed garden shed.
 
So sad! His work can't leave you indifferent, and he was very interesting to hear as well. I briefly saw him in person last year at Paris photo as I was waiting for @Guillaume Zuili , but didn't dare approach him. RIP, Mr Parr.
 
RIP
Thank you for bring his work to my attention. I was unaware of his work.
 
Oh no. So young.

RIP, one of the all time greats.
 
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I watched the film "I Am Martin Parr" in 2025 at the Glasgow Film Theatre and more recently online. He did say recently his myeloma was in remission. This has come as a bit of a shock to me. His Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol was doing valuable work in the support and promotion of photography.
 
RIP - his photos were political, ambiguous but with a hint of comedy. Watched the 'I Am Martin Parr' online last month and added Non Conformists and Last Resort to my Santa list. Nice obit in the Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/12/07/martin-parr-magnum-photography-class-britain-art/ (but it might be behind a paywall) and this comment '“You are after iconic moments,” he conceded, “but they are very difficult to produce. Most of the pictures I take are not very good. For the rhubarb commission, I took three or four thousand – and ended up with 40. If I knew how to take a great photo, I would stop.” Very humble
 
Rest in peace.

Some years ago, while I was training myself in photography by taking shots “in the style of”, someone challenged me to try Martin Parr —who was completely unknown to me at the time. That led me to discover his work and his unmistakable style, and I tried to photograph à la Parr in the streets of Madrid. It was an eye-opening exercise.

I will always remember Martin Parr for that.
 
SJC1952 said:
He did say recently his myeloma was in remission.
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They said that about my father's myeloma and suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere he got bad, was hospitalised and died 2 days later.

I attended a masterclass with Martin Parr in June this year and his mobility was affected but he had loads of mental energy.
I am very sad to see him go - way too soon.
 
Daniela said:
So sad! His work can't leave you indifferent, and he was very interesting to hear as well. I briefly saw him in person last year at Paris photo as I was waiting for @Guillaume Zuili , but didn't dare approach him. RIP, Mr Parr.
Click to expand...

Ah, too bad you didn't! He was very approachable the two times I bumped into him: once at an exhibition in London he'd also come to see, and the second at a tram stop in Istanbul. Both times he was very kind to me, who was trying hard not to go all fanboy on him, and on the latter occasion he invited me to the photobook conference he was there to attend.

He seemed to be a truly lovely person as well as a superb and groundbreaking photographer.
 
I just realised through reading articles about Martin's passing that he released his autobiography 'Utterly Lazy and Inattentive' a few months ago.

Has anyone got their hands on it and is it a worthwhile read?

I have always appreciated Martin injecting humour in his photo work. The photography world can sometimes be a bit too serious.
 

For me it‘s interesting. I enjoyed it. There is always a picture of him and sometimes also of others at the right hand side and he describes the background on the left hand side. And in this way he describes his whole life. Interesting approach in my eyes.
We were at his first exhibition of photobooks in Nuremberg (Grand Hotel Parr). There will also a publication about this by Nikita Teryoshin. It was very interesting too.
We came home and the first thing we heard was he died. Really sad.
 
Beatiful tribute to Martin Parr by Alec Soth

 
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