Martin Parr
"The Last Resort"

Photographed in New Brighton, Merseyside, between 1983 and 1985, The Last Resort remains one of the defining bodies of work in contemporary photography. Martin Parr’s first venture into colour photography marked a decisive shift in British documentary practice through its use of direct flash and saturated colour.

Produced during the height of the Thatcher era, the photographs depict visitors to a declining seaside resort with the wit and discomfort that would come to define Parr’s photographic legacy. This exhibit marks forty years since the publication of the original self-published book and the landmark presentation of The Last Resort at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1986. Focusing on rare vintage Fujicolor & Kodak C-type photographs printed from the original negatives, this exhibit presents the series in its original photographic form for the first time in decades.

Widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of colour photography, The Last Resort established Martin Parr as one of the foremost chroniclers of British life and remains a prestigious achievement in documentary photography. Four decades later, The Last Resort continues to shape and influence photography through its incredibly frank representation of 1980s Britain.

Martin Parr (UK, 1952–2025) was a full member of Magnum Photos and he published over 175 books of his photographs. In 2017 he founded the Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol and in 2021 he was awarded a CBE for his services to photography. In 2023 Parr was honoured with the Photo London Master of Photography Award. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include Only Human, National Portrait Gallery, London (2019); Grand Hotel Parr, Neues Museum Nuremberg, Germany (2025); Global Warning, Jeu de Paume, Paris (2026); and We Are Martin Parr, SeMA, South Korea (2026).

Photographs by Martin Parr are held in numerous public collections including: Tate Gallery, London; Arts Council of Great Britain; V&A, London; The Hepworth, Wakefield, Yorkshire; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Los Angeles County Museum; Australian National Gallery, Canberra; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.