Martin Parr and society.

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 While exploring the Magnum Photos website, I came across an article on Martin Parr, who became an associate in 1988 and served as the agency's president from 2013 to 2017. His series, in plain view, will be showcased in Paris in a few months as a memorial, which is described as a groundbreaking observation of society. In his own words Parr , took society's natural prejudice and gave it a twist. This created fictional 


The reason this artist is relevant to my personal project is in part due to his ability to capture the interaction of society and their environment. This is most relevant to my personal project, as I chose the nearest coffee shop to our campus as my subject. In his photography, Parr captures English culture through the curation of the environment in his images. A series of his that is closely related to the direction that I would like to take my personal project is his 'Common Sense' series, that documented consumeristic culture. The reason that this series is related to my subject is that Parr's capture of everyday items like clothing and pastries is related to the overconsumption of things like caffeine among college students. 

The simplicity of his images and variety in series from focusing on items like tacky clothing to a simple Valentine's Day pastry. The interaction of society with these cultural phenomena, like a holiday or the opening of a new coffee shop, is interesting to me. As someone who is interested in social sciences this is something that I would love to capture as the opening of this coffee shop has created an outside place for students on our campus to interact with people outside of our bubble. Through their support of local vendors, collaborative spaces, and friendly services, these coffee shops are the perfect curated space to capture students and their interaction with caffeine and college culture. 

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