Martin Parr’s The Last Resort (1983-85) captures British working class on holiday in New Brighton, a once fashionable Victorian seaside resort in northwestern England during the politically fraught Thatcher era. The images project the continued pursuit of leisure against the backdrop of a deteriorating economy, contrasting with the rose-tinted postcards of idyllic holiday destinations. Controversial when first exhibited in London’s Serpentine Gallery in 1986, The Last Resort remains Parr’s most definitive body of work, to which he once remarked: “When I get to the Pearly Gates, those are the ones I’d probably get out first!”
Luxury (1995-2011) turns its gaze to the ostentatiously wealthy and the bourgeoisie in the international social circuit — from elaborated hatted ladies clutching champagnes at the Royal Ascot to cigar-smoking socialites at fashion and automobile shows. With magnified details, direct frontal flash, and saturated colours, Parrr satirised the cliché-laden tedium of excess and conspicuous consumption, while simultaneously unveiling the humanity beneath these seemingly larger-than-life vignettes.