Martin Parr: Mexico [Hardcover]

Martin Parr (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2006

For much of his career, Martin Parr has specialized in skewering the eccentricities and peculiarities of his native Great Britain--in particular those having to do with food, tourism, bad fashion choices and more food. Mexico is Parr's first new thematic series to be published in book form since 2002, a distinct geographical departure, and in part a greater departure as well. Parr is struck not only by Mexican culture, but also by the clear impact of America's pop culture and economy on Mexican life--the juxtaposition of Mickey Mouse with brightly colored saints, Nike logos with Day of the Dead skulls and Coca Cola with cacti. Here viewers are in recognizable territory with Parr's colorful close-ups of food, hats, signs and souvenirs, garishly shot with medical efficiency--but Mexico also includes some straight records of human faces, images that capture photographer and subject in the act of mutual contemplation. These moments of mercy are one with the underlying theme of Parr's more ironic work, calling up equally the corruption of authentic cultural forms by global consumer culture, which he both critiques and celebrates. As Parr puts it, "What I am saying is that it's a good and a bad thing. I'm constantly trying to express ambiguity. And that's what photography does very well."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As usual, his focus is on consumerism and taste of a most questionable sort. He swoops low over enormous pink sugar doughnuts, wristwatches features Jesus and the Virgin of Guadalupe, garishly decorated pastries, and Day of the Dead sugar skulls visited by bees but steps back for views of camera-toting tourists and a barrier of tires painted red, white, and aqua. Tweaking cultural imperialism, reveling in vernacular cliché, Parr may not be subtle but he's always sharp." --The New Yorker

"In his signature style -- observations of the symbols and rituals of everyday life tightly framed and saturated with color -- Parr explores the often oil-and-water mix of American and Mexican imagery: Men wearing caps touting U.S. sports logos; T-shirts emblazoned with SpongeBob, Mickey Mouse and the Simpsons; Halloween competing with the traditions of the Day of the Dead; Jesus and Spider-Man trinkets; a rusty Coca-Cola sign mounted on a cactus, pictures of tourists taking pictures." -- Lynne Heffley --The Los Angeles Times

"Hidden in plain sight, the paradoxes of modern life often slip by unseen, until documentary photographer Martin Parr trains his lens on them." -- David O'Grady --Nylon Magazine

"From the moment you take this book into your hands, you know the intent is to stimulate. The silver pinwheel cover, novel in its unfinished quality and radiating with kitschy abandon, announces that we've already arrived at the carnival. You know before seeing a single photograph that this will not be a nuanced approach to a complex culture: Mexico has no explanatory subtitle and is printed in a font reminiscent of a fûtbol jersey or a mechanic's roadside sign. These are snapshots taken through the selective lens of Martin Parr." -- Neil Farrell --Photo-Eye: The International Magazine of Photography Books

"Martin Parr's Mexico, a narrow tome with a splendidly gaudy holographic cover, is a sharp-eyed tour of Mexico's material culture: a chorus of green-robed ceramic Jesus figures, each clutching a gold coin to his chest; a pile of rainbow-colored broom heads; a batch of unnaturally pink pastries against the backdrop of a woman's green-checked frock; an arbor of red- and green-capped hot-sauce bottles; a pair of aged, sun-darkened hands tangled in the lavender fluff of a cotton-candy machine. The project is a study in color more than anything else -- not the glossy, romanticized color of cookbooks and travel magazines, but the commercial, street-worn, often crass color of everyday life." -- Holly Myers --LA Weekly

Product Details

• Hardcover: 88 pages
• Publisher: Aperture (October 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597110310
• ISBN-13: 978-1597110310
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 11.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Think Think of England, only Mexico style., January 24, 2007

By 

Doctor Trance (MA, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Martin Parr: Mexico (Hardcover)

"Nothing we haven't seen before." A quote from Rogelio Villarreal from the book's forward sums it up, as Parr's style is not new to anyone, and this book does not stray from his past iconic work that he is already well known for. The photos are very similar to past photo works like British Food, Think of England, and Common Sense, all done with a Mexican twist. Like his past works, there aren't many dull photos, as all offer very interesting close-ups and juxtapositions, making even the most trivial of everyday items and people seem camera worthy. There were one or two shots that didn't make me feel they went hand in hand with Mexico at all, such as a close-up of a car windshield with two Nike logo window shades inside, and the disgusting shots of packaged animal feet that could have been sold in any country, but overall, the Mexican theme is quite prevalent, adding many instant classic shots to Parr's ever increasing back catalog.

One of my favorites is the shot of two female tourists, one taking a picture of the other in front of some beach ruins, and the girl taking the photo with her back to Martin's camera is wearing a shirt with a print of a beach scene on it, on top of holding a handbag with an extremely colorful floral print. It's a typical Parr shot, explosive in rich colors. Another highlight is the shot of religious statues being sold streetside, with a McDonald's in the background.

It's another fine addition to the Parr book library, and expect lots of your typical Parr shots.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning visual impact, February 3, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martin Parr: Mexico (Hardcover)

Martin Parr's Mexico pairs photos by Parr with an essay by Rogelio Villarreal as it blends social documentary with a photographic survey considering the impact of America's pop culture on Mexican life. Full-page color photos - some quite startling - capture Mexican pop art from food to faces to graveyards and provide a stunning visual impact perfect for not only college-level art libraries, but any collection strong in Mexican culture.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mexico Through Parr Tinted Glasses, December 3, 2008

By 

victor lee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martin Parr: Mexico (Hardcover)

As globalization moves at a rapid rate and internet culture spreads, there is a world wide cross-pollination of popular icons, styles of clothing and foods. The thing one culture uses to define itself is being translated and repackaged by other cultures. "Democratic design" from Sweden fills homes on every continent, while Bruce Springsteen spreads the American dream to teens in Europe. Mexico by Martin Parr is a collection of photographs that attempts to examine the meaning of the culture and identity of Mexico in a time of global culture.

Parr has carefully constructed images of new hybrids in Mexican life and culture. He demonstrates this by photographing everything from a day of the dead celebration with Sponge Bob Square Pants decorations to a cluster of Virgin of Guadalupe and Caucasian Jesus memorabilia positioned in front of a McDonald's. Sugar skulls covered in bees, windshield sun shades adorned with the Nike "swoosh" and defective mannequins challenge the viewer to decide if this truly is Mexico, or if Parr has over simplified an extremely rich and diverse culture.

Have corporations and pop culture taken over our individual cultural experiences, or are the selection of images in this book just a small piece of a larger whole? This is an especially fascinating question as images of President elect Barack Obama's global support have begun to surface. From Kenya to Japan to Iran, President Obama has become not only the leader of the United States, but a leader the entire globe is looking to for inspiration. Personally it is hard for me to believe that Parr's Mexico is the end all of Mexican culture, nor will it ever be. Instead, it is a representation of the fluidity of culture and identity in the 21st century.