It’s a swell time to be a Martin Parr fan. A major show curated by the London-born photographer is about to open at Barbican (see page 96). You can also see his work as part of Tate’s ‘Performing for the Camera’, or even hike up to West Yorkshire, where the ‘king of the crowd’ has a retrospective at the Hepworth Wakefield. Just down the road from the Barbican, it’s possible to take in the fruits of his labour as the City of London’s photographer-in-residence, a post he’s held since 2013. ‘Unseen City’ is the Guildhall Art Gallery’s first major photo exhibition, and features over a hundred scenes of the Square Mile by Parr, who was invited along for a whole host of official events, from the Lord Mayor’s Show to the annual Swan Upping census along the Thames.
There are plenty of weird and wonderful moments: a procession in red livery with rifles marching by as people gaze out from Pret; a child who looks likes she’s about to get swallowed up by her own tiger hat. There’s even a special appearance by Joan Collins in full pastel-blue regalia. Fairy-tale elements abound: grown men in livery carrying little hand pillows with roses on them (no glass slipper?) or clutching little bouquets of flowers wrapped in lace filigree; guards wearing what look like colanders on their heads.
Parr’s signature askewness is visible in most of the large-scale images, though it seems to be lacking in others. Rather than bringing you closer to his unassuming subjects, as his work normally does, some of the shots create a disconnect. Perhaps it’s this particular viewer’s lack of familiarity with the oblique symbolism of City events – Trial of the Pyx or Beating the Bounds, anyone? – or maybe there’s just too much symbolism in these peculiar activities for Parr’s particular strength at capturing the art of the artless to shine through. All that marching and greeting and toasting the Queen: maybe there’s just too much going on.