Martin Parr (b. 1952) is one of Britain’s best-loved photographers. He is known for his candid colour-saturated photographs of ordinary life, which explore themes such as class, consumerism, leisure, travel and tourism. Parr is a self-proclaimed ‘aficionado of the British seaside’, having photographed the nation’s beaches repeatedly since the 1970s. Through his work, he invites us to take a fresh and often uncomfortable look at a trip to the seaside; he highlights the peculiarities and absurdities of beach culture and provides a satirical commentary on this familiar experience.
In 2017 the National Maritime Museum commissioned Martin Parr to take a series of photographs of London’s local beaches – most of Essex’s beach resorts can be reached from London in less than two. They have long been favoured destinations for sea-starved Londoners seeking a day on the coast. Despite a decline in their popularity in the 1960s, the rise of the ‘staycation’ and the opening of new attractions have meant that many remain destinations of choice. Parr’s pictures of the Essex coast show a thriving landscape where people continue to seek the nostalgia of the ‘traditional’ British break. Yet they also reveal a diversity of day-trippers who have embraced and adapted the seaside experience to meet their own social, cultural and religious needs.