Documenting Britain, 'The Last Resort' and the Seaside Caricature.

Martin Parr 'The Last Resort'

It was at the seaside where the camera could make these fictional stories possible. Undertaking the same subject matter, Ray-Jones and Parr followed in a photographic tradition that dates back to “Paul Martin in 1892” (Kirby, 2009, The Genius of Photography). At the beach, the daily eccentricities, dramas and miseries of British holiday makers were exposed to the camera. For Ray-Jones, the seaside in the 1960s was a “world unto itself, with its own moral code and set of values ... [people’s] behaviour is far less inhibited than in their town life; thus a different side to English character emerges”(Ray-Jones in Roberts, 2005, 15).

When Martin Parr began his study of New Brighton, Britain was in a period of industrial flux. Traditional industries were in decline, blue collar, skilled working class, manual labour was disappearing to be replaced by service industries, and white collar, computerized automated employment. The visitors to Martin Parr’s last resort were the victims of this changing world. They came from the areas worst hit by this post industrial revolution. Working class skills were no longer wanted and Britain had been for over a decade in decline. The 1970’s had been torn by strikes, industrial unrest within traditional industries which neither the trade unions, Conservative or Labour government had been able to fully address. Under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, the new conservative government was determined to address the issue:

“We are a party which honours the past that we may build for the future. Old industries are declining, new ones are taking their place, traditional jobs are being taken over by computers, people are choosing to spend their money in new ways. It would be foolish to pretend that this transition can be accomplished without problems.”

(Thatcher in Frayn, 2003, Imagine-The World According to Martin Parr)

This changing world meant resorts like New Brighton, were hard hit by the declining economic statuses of its visitors. Thatcher’s attempt to defeat inflation led to a greater crisis in industries as hundreds of factories were shut down and unemployment rose to two million. One of the cities that suffered the most from this was Liverpool. Unemployment in some areas reached up to 60%, which inevitably had a knock on effect upon New Brighton with investors unwilling to put money into the entertainment industries that had built the resorts reputation.

Humane photography, “A Predator or a Collaborator.”

These woes only served to heighten Parr’s interest. “If the seaside was tatty, and more than a little run-down, it was also vibrant” (Parr in Badger, 2009, 6). However the element of caricature and sentimentality found in the ‘Ordinary’ had been tarnished by the social unease of the 1980’s. ‘The Last Resort’ in comparison to Tony Ray-Jones and ‘a Day Off’, contradicts the purpose of photographing the eccentricities and amusements of the ‘everyday’ as it references to the conditions of working class Britain. 

Tony Ray Jones 'A Day Off''

Focusing upon this neglected area of Liverpool; Martin Parr gives us the experience of a sundrenched, overcrowded beach filled with working class families, surrounded by the rundown ruins of a once great resort. Due to the state of New Brighton, the reviews suggest an element of exploitation in Parr’s decision to document its inhabitants. Robert Morris in the British journal of Photography’s 1986 review described ‘The Last Resort’ as “a Clammy, claustrophobic nightmare world where people lie knee deep in chip papers, swim in polluted black pools and stare at the bleak horizon of dereliction” (Morris in Williams, 2002, 161). David Lee’s review is more specific; highlighting the poetic aspects present in ‘The Last Resort’, he then continues to criticize Parr’s interpretations as being condescending:

“They wear cheap flashy clothes and in true conservative fashion are resigned to their meagre lot. Only babies and children survive ridicule and it is their inclusion in many pictures which gives Parr’s acerbic vision of hopelessness its acerbic touch.”

(Lee in Badger, 2009, 6)

Parr has stated “I think that all photography involving people has an element of exploitation, and therefore I am no exception” (www.martinparr.com/MartinParrCV.pdf). Fully aware that New Brighton’s physical appearance is a result of the changing circumstances in the North of England; Parr has claimed that there was “a sense of political demand in this work” (Parr, 2003, Imagine-The World According to Martin Parr). “What I was trying to show was the contrast between domestic activity and domestic normal life within the fabric of New Brighton which was slowly disintegrating” (Parr, 2003, Imagine-The World According to Martin Parr).

Chris Killip 'Crabs and People, Skinningrove'

In comparison to fellow British photographer Chris Killip, who documented similar seaside landscapes, Martin Parr’s colour photographs seem to diminish and de-humanise rather than expressing the theatricality within the ‘ordinary’. In ‘Crabs and People, Skinningrove’, 1981 for example, Gerry Badger highlights that “the apparently contradictory words ‘documentary’ and ‘poetic’ are often used in conjunction with one another” (Badger, 2007,142). What could be considered as Killip capturing a family outing on the sea front could also be observed as an image of anticipation, abandonment and hope? A man stands high and proud, gazing across an empty sea front, waiting, for better days maybe, whilst a woman, a box of crabs and a child's pram, appear discarded, as though the passage of time has engraved them into the landscape. Killip’s book entitled ‘In Flagrante’ observes, like Parr, aspects of a 1980’s ‘struggling’ working class environment. However Killip describes his interpretations as “a Fiction of a metaphor” (Badger, 2007, 142) indicating that like Tony Ray Jones, there is an element of romanticising and ennobling in his subject matter.

Daniel Meadow’s describes the role of a photographer is a constant battle between being a “Predator or a Collaborator” (Meadows, visiting lecture, 2012). Martin Parr’s decision to use colour film photography in contrast to the conventional black and white approach provoked hostility. The 1970’s saw a number of contemporary photographers make the transfer from black and white to colour. Many made the switch permanently as colour was able to achieve certain artistic objectives that excelled black and white imagery. However with is connection to the commercial market, this new method was initially discarded as a valid form of artistic expression. It was seen as “Vulgar, the province of advertising, fashion and travel photographers” (Gerry Badger, 2007, 143). It was therefore left to the professionally paid, while the artistically trained stuck to acknowledged, black and white techniques. “Black and White” declared photographer Robert Frank “are the colours of photography” (Robert Frank in Gerry Badger, 2007, 143). Parr was also brought up on the belief that black and white instead of colour was the appropriate method to use, “We were taught that if you wanted to be taken seriously as a photographer, you had to shoot in black and white” (www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/oct/27/).

However such beliefs were being questioned, colour photography was no longer for the select few; it had become a commercially charged industry that was available for public consumption. According to Gerry Badger, “photographers were beginning to sense that black and white were not the colours of reality, and that black and white presented too large a gap between actuality and image” (Badger, 2007, 143). During the 1970’s, colour evolved in documentary photography allowing Parr to achieve a realistic insight into a suffering resort that was uncompromising and relevant to British society. “In a way” questions Gerry Badger, “colour—and Parr’s, in particular—seemed to signal the end of the humanist phase in British documentary photography”(http://www.martinparr.com/ParrByBadger.pdf).

Martin Parr 'The Last Resort'

Aware of the social unease in the north of England, Parr states that he was unsure whether black and white photography constructed an accurate description of modern culture. “I was starting to question the whole idea of whether this black and white photography nostalgic feel was correct for the time that we lived in." (www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/going_out). This is evident in the ‘Mayor of Todmorden’s inaugural banquet’ 1977 from the Hebden Bridge series ‘the Non Conformists’ in relation to Parr’s photograph of a queue of people inside a rundown café from ‘the Last Resort’.  A resemblance between the two can be distinguished in that they relate to a similar subject. Both convey an un-orderly, hostile, snatch and grab environment dictated by greed and selfishness, the black and white image more so as we can see people forcing their way through in search of the buffet. In contrast the colour image that doesn’t dictate order although the people do appear more patient. However, the image also highlights the tawdry dilapidated appearance of the café, the contrast in colours stress upon the boarded up window above the doorway, the food scrapings across a greasy surface and the contrast in skin tones in combination with the variety of attires been worn. This results in a confusing, claustrophobic atmosphere. Where the black and white image portrays the queue as a whimsical projection of a crowded environment, the colour image describes an unpleasant, depressing situation. The use of colour allows us to discover this reality and in the process we, the viewer, can explore a variety of themes that are not visible in a black and white image. Pamela Roberts quotes Parr acknowledging this issue: “What is odd is that, when you look at a black and white photograph, it doesn’t look like the real world; it is an interpretation. In this sense, black and white is unusual whereas colour is quite simply normal” (Martin Parr in Pamela Roberts, 2007, 187).