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| It is hard to voice an opinion about Martin Parr's photographs without feeling exposed. His satirical documents of the foibles and shibboleths of society's various strata can be as slyly revelatory in the responses they elicit as in the prosaic absurdities they portray. Scorn, guilt, envy, cynicism, fear, indignation and sympathy, as well as a reluctance to so emote over such seemingly innocuous tableaux are integral to the exciting ambiguity generated by Parr's social cataloguing. The provocative atmosphere surrounding his photographs, however, can be a distraction from Martin Parr's more simple virtuosity. He is an unabashedly astute observer: an often incisive, frequently comic, always poised documentarian whose unwillingness to mollify his scrutiny with the pretense of sanctimony is refreshingly honest. It is his ability to so deftly and elegantly cast both subject and observer in such an unsettling but true relief that makes Martin Parr so compelling. | |||