Martin Parr has parted last year from the mankind he spent a lifetime tracking and photographing, in all its splendour and misery, its absurdity and tenderness. No one focused so much on the marvels of modern life like he did: the overcrowded beaches, the tourist traps, the ordinary people blissfully and obliviously being themselves, with a twist of British humour, always present along the way in his work. He documented us (well, the Brits) with wit, warmth and an incredibly devastating eye. FOAM pays tribute to his work in a relatively small scale exhibition accurately titled “Very Modern and Rather Ugly”. Of course the title calls for a reflection about ugliness and beauty. What is ugly? Bright and loud colours? What is beauty? What strikes me is that Martin Parr, to the very end of his life, supported by a walker, never stopped photographing the people around him. Tongue in cheek, a smile on his face, camera in hand. This brings to mind Les Anglais, a joint project between Parr and Henri Cartier-Bresson: two very different photographers turning their lenses on the same subject: the British. A French eye and an English one, each seeing the same country through a completely different temperament. My conclusion: although very different in approach and technique, I would put them on a par. For now.
