Martin Parr was commissioned by Blindspot Gallery in 2013 to produce a series in Hong Kong, culminating in the photobook Hong Kong Parr (2013) and his first-ever solo exhibition in the city in 2014. He traversed across the city for two weeks, visiting hawker stalls, wet markets, ballrooms, racecourses, cemeteries, temples, and iconic tourist landmarks frequented such as The Peak, Ocean Park, as well as luxury boutiques crowded with Chinese shoppers and the Lo Wu Border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, bustling with energy.
At the time, Hong Kong stood at a watershed moment, undergoing demographic transitions and social integration that gave rise to divided opinions. Through his lens, Parr captured a city in a state of transformation, observing its people, its peculiarities, and the truisms of daily life.
"Our world is getting wealthier and that's an issue as well as being a good thing, as there are problems that arise in the wake of that. But I'm trying to illustrate the leisure time and the welfare activities of this new world…China is a good place to examine this theme…There's no better place for mainlanders to come and spend their money than Hong Kong. There are issues about that — it's not so straightforward — and that to me is one of the starting points for this recent exploration,” remarked Parr in an interview with South China Morning Post in 2014.