Martin Parr Foundation
Martin Parr Foundation While I was at the RPS Headquarters for the Documentary Group Photo Scratch event I popped next door to visit the Martin Parr Foundation (MPF). Established in 2014, the foundation supports and preserves the legacy of photographers who made, and continue to make, important work focused on the British Isles. The premises at Bristol’s Paintworks opened in 2017, supporting the foundation’s three main aims: to preserve the archive and legacy of Martin Parr; to hold a growing collection of works by selected British and Irish photographers, as well as images taken in the British Isles by international photographers; to house an expanding library of British and Irish photobooks. As well as renowned photographers, the MPF also highlights contemporaries of Martin Parr that haven’t received the recognition they deserve. The MPF increasingly supports emerging photographers through exhibitions, acquiring or commissioning work and by use of the foundation’s resources. The gallery hosts around five exhibitions a year, all of them free, featuring photographs by contemporary British and Irish photographers as well as works from the collection. Past exhibitions have included Martin Parr’s Black Country Stories, Niall McDiarmid’s Town to Town and work by Paul Trevor and Document Scotland. Each year the gallery space hosts a show by MA photography students from the University of West England, just one of the ways the MPF tries to support emerging photographers. Earlier in 2019 MPF exhibited work by Clémentine Schneidermann and Charlotte James from their project ‘It’s Called Ffasiwn’, which was made in collaboration with children of the South Wales Valleys. To coincide with the exhibition, MPF and Bleak & Fabulous produced ‘Ffasiwn Magazine’ featuring work from the project, allowing it to reach a wider audience. MPF’s involvement in publishing continues with the current exhibition, Ian Weldon’s ‘I Am Not A Wedding Photographer’. The exhibition runs until 10 August 2019 with a photobook of the same name, produced by Bristol’s RRB Photobooks and MPF, presenting highlights from the show. Photobooks are one of the most important ways that photographers present and disseminate their work to a wider international audience. They also serve as a valuable resource for research, informing the approach to the topics that consume photographers, with threads of influence running through time and around the world. 42
