Martin Parr. Short & Sweet at Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna

Curated by Martin Parr himself, the show includes more than 60 photographs selected by the author along with the Common Sense installation consisting of 250 shots and an unpublished interview.

Overview

Martin Parr (born in 1952) - undoubtedly one of the most established and recognized British documentary photographers of our time - chooses the Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna to present the exhibition project Short & Sweet, which he directly curated, together with Magnum Photos, after the wide public success recently achieved at Mudec - Museo delle Culture in Milan.

From September 12, 2024 to January 6, 2025, the exhibition Martin Parr. Short & Sweet - produced by 24 ORE Cultura - Gruppo 24 ORE in collaboration with the Civic Archeological Museum of Bologna's Civic Museums Sector and Magnum Photos, and under the patronage of the Municipality of Bologna - presents more than 60 photographs he selected especially for this project and placed side by side with the body of images from the Common Sense series that made him famous, to retrace, also through an unpublished interview by photography historian and critic Roberta Valtorta, the career of one of the most famous photographers of our time.

Beginning with Parr's early black-and-white work to Parr's most cherished themes-from 'beach lives' to tourism-the exhibition project, curated in person by the artist, showcases more than 60 photographs selected by Parr specifically for this project and presented alongside the body of images from the series that made him famous, Common Sense, with more than 200 photographs from the 350 shown in the 1999 exhibition of the same name that explore the plasticized and tacky reality of the Western world.

Through a journey within the best-known projects, the unprecedented documentary style that has characterized the language of British photographer Martin Parr for more than 50 years becomes a litmus test for observing contemporary society and its most contradictory folds, those that belong to the Western world, particularly Europe, rendered by an edgy, unfiltered and unrhetorical photographic chronicle, sometimes told with biting sarcasm; more often presented with irony and humor. Parr's images capture comic or unexpected moments, offering a critical yet humorous look at the everyday lives of us all.