Bristol and West: Photographs by Martin Parr

Featuring over 50 images selected from the last thirty years of Martin Parr’s career, Britain’s foremost photographer takes a wry look at life in Bristol and the surrounding area. It will be the largest exhibition of photographs by Martin Parr held in the city since his Home Sweet Home exhibition at the Arnolfini in 1974.

Bristol and West showcases images that focus on his continual interest in how people live, how they present themselves and their values. Parr’s images are immediately accessible and entertaining they are both affectionate and critical, capturing the world as he sees it and not how people might expect it to be. Martin Parr is an also an obsessive collector of postcards, photography books and political ephemera, photography to him is just another form of collecting.

Martin Parr has lived in Bristol since 1987 and this exhibition contains an eclectic mix of photographs, including: Cost of Living; A Year in the Life of Chew Stoke Village and images of Bristolian’s celebrating big events.

Parr is interested in ‘ordinary people doing ordinary things’, a reason behind why it took six years to be accepted into Magnum, the world’s most prestigious photographic agency who are more renowned for capturing significant world events.

Martin Parr, says: “To be the first exhibitor in M Shed’s new exhibition space is special. I hope visitors will enjoy the exhibition and perhaps see a link between my images and the essence of what M Shed is all about: local people; their unique lives and the individual personal stories behind their lives.”