MARTIN PARR

Marking the first exhibition for Photo SeMA’s Photographer Spotlight series, as well as the first major retrospective of Martin Parr to be held in Asia since his passing, the exhibition has been realized through close collaboration with Magnum Photos—the internationally renowned photographic collective of which Parr was a longtime member and former president, and the Martin Parr Foundation. The exhibition builds upon discussions that began during the artist’s lifetime, in close partnership with the Photo SeMA.

Featuring more than 500 photographs from 14 of Parr’s most celebrated series, alongside 90 photobooks, the exhibition offers a comprehensive survey of the artist’s 50-year career, tracing his development from his early black-and-white works of the 1970s to his later color photography.

More than a retrospective of a single photographer, Martin Parr: We Are Martin Parr invites visitors to reconsider how images are produced and consumed today through the lens of Parr’s distinctive artistic practice.

Throughout his career, Martin Parr documented contemporary society with his characteristic humor, irony, vivid color, and flash photography, capturing subjects ranging from tourism, consumer culture, food, sports, and family celebrations to broader global social phenomena. By introducing wit and an unmistakably original visual language into the tradition of documentary photography—long associated with reflections on history and the human condition—Parr has been widely recognized as having expanded the possibilities of contemporary photography.

His photographs obsessively capture moments that might otherwise pass unnoticed, transforming the familiar into something unexpectedly strange while offering incisive observations on modern desires, tastes, patterns of consumption, and everyday behavior. In an era defined by smartphones and social media, where daily life is continuously documented and shared, Parr’s photographs resonate more strongly than ever. They encourage viewers to reflect anew on contemporary visual culture and on the ways in which we both produce and consume images in our everyday lives.

Occupying all galleries of the Photo SeMA, the exhibition follows Martin Parr’s perspective on society through the diverse social scenes that have shaped his artistic practice.

On the second floor (Galleries 1 and 2), the exhibition explores how Parr observes contemporary society through ordinary everyday landscapes. Iconic series including Small World, The Last Resort, and The Cost of Living examine tourism, leisure, and consumer culture, revealing the complexities of contemporary life.

On the third floor (Galleries 3 and 4), the exhibition traces the evolution of Parr’s practice beyond social documentation toward an investigation of images and visual culture itself. Series such as Common Sense, Death by Selfie, South Korea, North Korea, and Autoportrait explore themes of consumption, nationhood, culture, and self-representation, offering insight into the many facets of contemporary visual culture.

The South Korea and North Korea series are of particular significance, presenting Parr’s unique perspective on the Korean Peninsula, where tourism, everyday life, and national identity intersect within the realities of a divided nation. The exhibition concludes with Autoportrait, a series of self-portraits taken in photo studios and tourist destinations around the world, including Korea, in which Parr humorously positions himself as both participant in and observer of the culture of image-making and image consumption.

As its title (“Martin Parr: We Are Martin Parr”) suggests, the exhibition reveals that Parr’s photographs are not simply portraits of others, but reflections of all of us who live in a world shaped by the constant production and consumption of images. Encountering familiar scenes within his photographs, visitors are invited to recognize themselves at the heart of contemporary consumer and image culture.

The exhibition also presents an extensive selection of Martin Parr’s photobooks and publishing projects. The 90 photobooks on view illuminate another important dimension of his career—not only as a photographer, but also as an editor, publisher, and collector of photobooks.

Understanding the photobook as an independent creative medium rather than merely a vehicle for reproducing photographs, Parr significantly expanded the role of the photographer through his work as a publisher, collector, and researcher. The exhibition includes rare first editions, signed copies, and photobooks in a wide variety of innovative formats, offering visitors a closer look at his enduring contributions to publishing and photographic culture.

Choi Eunju, Director of the Seoul Museum of Art, remarked: “More than a retrospective of a single artist, we hope this exhibition offers an opportunity to reconsider contemporary visual culture and to see our own everyday lives and image culture anew through the work of Martin Parr.” She added, “Through the Photographer Spotlight series, Photo SeMA will continue to introduce audiences to significant Korean and international photographers whose work has made lasting contributions to the history of photography.”