We zijn het niet gewend, maar Martin Parr kan klagen. In de Independent van afgelopen maandag lezen we dat Parr betreurt dat de fotografie niet op waarde wordt geschat in zijn vaderland, Groot-Brittannië.
Mede om die reden werkt hij mee aan een zes-delige serie Picture This, waarbij zes mogelijke talenten de kans krijgen zich binnen drie weken te ontwikkelen tot betere fotografen.
Parrs klachten:
‘The funny thing about photography is that it’s our most democratic and widespread art form, but we don’t take it as seriously as the rest of Europe does.’
‘Britain is the only developed Western country that doesn’t have photography reviewers in its newspapers’
‘We don’t like photography as much. We don’t have photography festivals – or if we do, they’re rather small,” Parr says. “We’re a nation full of people who are interested in books and words and music and a little bit of art, but we have never really quite liked photography.’
‘There are 65 to 70 photography galleries in New York alone. In the UK, there are no more than five and they’re all in London.’
Om af te sluiten met een paradox: ‘Photography is the simplest thing in the world, but it is incredibly complicated to make it really work.’
• The Independent: Martin Parr: How to put photography in the frame
(Met dank aan Eddie Marsman)