Art & architecture
Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer who is well known for his direct photographic style. He is much appreciated for his way of tackling subjects of bad taste with a wit and irony. He has been collecting boring postcards for over two decades1 that have been reproduced straight and compiled them in a photobook, which was the method used by photographers to show their work. Those postcards of boring places are shot in Britain and lack any point of interest and are narrative, carrying no text. What makes the photographic images compelling is the resultant collection that sheds light on the British architecture and its social life. The photographer makes use of fashion and icons to represent a culture or class. He captures food, head and hats without any aesthetic pretensions and conveys the message about globalization in his work. Parr’s photography on Mexico2 shows his attempt to understand a foreign country via his camera. Parr’s Boring Postcards make a handsome collection for those who are aesthetically adventurous and appreciate the photographer’s ironic presentation. If one looks at the original Boring Postcards, they are loosely categorized under recreation, transport, industry and civic pride. There is no further description on those postcards or text or even if they were ever sent. Those postcards are both attractive and evocative, plus have tapped readily into a market that is brimming with retro imagery3. Those dull images of roadways, corporate headquarters, parking lots, undistinguished motels and corporate headquarters may look unattractive, but are filled with fascinating details, even if they lack any text or explanation.
____________________1 "Boring Postcards." 2004. uk.phaidon.com. (Mar 11, 2016). http://uk.phaidon.com/store/photography/boring-postcards-9780714843902/2 Timothy R Gleason. 2011. Martin parr in mexico: Does photographic style translate? Journal of International and Global Studies 3 (1): 47-56.3 "Martin Parr.". 2002. .thingsmagazine.net (Mar 11, 2016). ttp://www.thingsmagazine.net/text/t15/postcards.htm
In the 1999 book Boring Postcards4, Parr arranged his selection of British postcards from mid to late twentieth century and covered roads, buses, colleges, shopping centers, estates, airports and more. The collection shows his fascinations with everything mundane, boring and the kitsch. It is the act of representing the ordinary in an absurd and remarkable way. The collection of British postcards were produced mainly in the 1950’s and 1960’s5 and show British’s pursuits of leisure, plus what they preferred to do with their leisure time. Cheaply produced, one can see cheap lithography, clumsy printing, and over processed color. Pontin's Holliday Village, Camber Sands. 2000 The postcard chosen from the collection which is a British landscape is Pontin's Holliday Village, Camber Sands. 2000. It represents a different dimension of vernacular modern British landscape that tells its own story. This is a snapshot of Britain during the optimistic post-war boom years with a touch of modernism. This is a phase of Britain that has left behind its past and is waiting to embrace the new. The photograph of Pontins Holiday Village, Camber Sands seems like everyone is having an exciting time. Families and children are seen to be relaxing in the brightly colored water boats. Children are enjoying the boats while the adults sit nearby on the benches, relaxing, gossiping or watching over their children. Two boring buildings cover the background and carry a linear row of windows. Looking at it, there is nothing special to observe in the postcard of Pontin's Holliday Village, showing some families and children spending time together. What attracts the eyes are the bright red, blue and yellow colors of the boats against the blue waters. The colors are bright and yet look peculiar, and give the feel that there is something not right with the image.
____________________4 Peter Merriman, Driving Spaces: A Cultural-Historical Geography of England's M1 Motorway (John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 320.5 Joe Moran, Reading the Everyday (Routledge Press, 2005), 224.
The blues of the sky and the water seem too bright and unnatural to the eye and are broken by the linear perspective of the buildings. The postcard is colorful and still it is boring at the same time as there is nothing exciting about the postcard. Still, the image make you feel nostalgic and you think of those times when they were not considered boring. One wonders as to why those postcards were made in the first place and who looked at them and bought them. After all, what could be exciting about a group of children and adults enjoying a water body? Still, the postcard manages to combine highbrow aesthetic appreciation with a dismissive, ironic sneer. It is tough to gauge the expression of the people or children in the image. Howsoever, on the whole, it seems that none is really very excited to be there but have nothing better to do in their free time. At the same time, the postcard shows us in a penetrating way how we live and how we look to others or can be perceived by others. Parr is known to craft his own chosen weapons of criticism humor to fuel the overwhelming power of published images. This is how he makes those photographs understandable, entertaining plus original. The British photographer looks for national characteristics in the photograph and how it can help future generations to get familiar with the peculiarities of our culture. He allows us to see familiar things in a completely new way, and with his collection of postcards, Parr creates his own image of society and offers an unusual visual experience. Those eccentricities and inimitable treatment of the subject are treasured in his collection. It is his unusual strategy that sets him apart as a photographer and his style and choice of themes show his integrative approach towards his work. Every time we look at the image of “Pontin's Holliday Village”, we discover a new angle and recognize the humor that is often missed in the mundane lives. It evokes a Britain from the past that no longer exists, and whose citizens found excitement even in boredom. That was a time when Britain was trying to find its lost identity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Boring Postcards" 2016. uk.phaidon.com. (Mar 11, 2016). http://uk.phaidon.com/store/photography/boring-postcards-9780714843902/Gleason, Timothy R. 2011. Martin parr in mexico: Does photographic style translate? Journal of International and Global Studies 3 (1): 47-56.
"Martin Parr.". 2002. .thingsmagazine.net (Mar 11, 2016). http://www.thingsmagazine.net/text/t15/postcards.htmMoran, Joe, Reading the Everyday (Routledge Press, 2005), 224.
“Peter Merriman, Driving Spaces: A Cultural-Historical Geography of England's M1 Motorway.” (John Wiley & Sons, 2011), 320.
