Almost a quarter of a century after its publication, it is hard to underestimate the importance of The Last Resort, both for British photography and for Martin Parr’s career. Martin Parr made The Last Resort from 1982 to 1985.

Between satire and cruelty – not without a certain tenderness for his fellow Britons – he portrays families of modest means taking their holidays in New Brighton near Liverpool, a small seaside resort in decline. What should have looked like a summer district, put through Parr’s mill, suddenly takes on the air of an industrial zone.

in The Last Resort, Martin Parr evokes his nostalgia for the 1960s with biting irony. He denounces the end of a world (the working class world) and its values, as well as the advent of a new, consumerist conception of life. A key publication in Martin Parr’s oeuvre, with a foreword by Gerry Badger.

Martin Parr (born 1952) is one of the best known documentary photographers of his generation. He is a key figure in the art world both for his photographic work and for his involvement as a curator. In 2017 he opened the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, dedicated to promoting British documentary photography. He is member of the Magnum agency since 1994, of which he was also president from 2013 to 2017. He has published more than 100 books. His work is included in several major museum collections and has been the subject of a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2019. Martin Parr is represented by Kamel Mennour, Paris/London.