Photography Martin Parr’s first experience in Manchester might have ended much sooner.

Enrolled at Manchester Polytechic, he nearly got kicked out at the end of the year having failed his exams and accused by his lecturers of drifting off and doing his own thing.

That doing one’s own thing was probably the making of Martin and now nearly fifty years later he has returned with a new exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery containing some of his early Manchester work and bringing his unique docu photography right up to date.

The exhibition captures the full breathe of his talent, Prestwich Mental Hospital in the 1970’s images that Parr accepts wouldn’t be remotely possible to take.

It was his first documentary project. The images demonstrate how he was able to build a rapport with the patients so they felt comfortable having their photographs taken, a few even playing up to the camera. What could have been quite bleak, institutional images in fact reveal the humanity which Parr captured even in the very early stages of his career.

A study of Yates’ wine bars when people formed an orderly queue at the bar, and brown flour and sardines were sold in an attempt to educate the drinkers into healthy eating.

His search to find the original Coronation Street revealed June Street, long since demolished.Parr was let into the homes of most of the streets twenty residents to photograph their living rooms, the gas fires, the brass ornaments on the wall all evocative of an era long since  departed.

Then his colour images of people shopping and spending money in Salford, the picture of a lady filling her car with petrol demonstrates how the most simple things while another pictures a baby left outside a Ladbrokes bookies.

Here are seven Manchester pictures in the Bad Weather series from 1981, set across Britain and Ireland. Weather is our national obsession, our favourite topic of conversation for small talk.

People battle against poor visibility and driving rain, umbrellas being blown inside out. Many of the images were captured with an underwater camera and flashgun, so that Parr could shoot in any weather condition. The use of flash allows him to capture the falling rain which would otherwise be almost invisible and means that the weather comes to the fore within image.

Now Parr has been commissioned to capture Manchester in 2018 and his photos are on show here as well.

He has encountered people shopping, in hairdressers, in Mosques, in cafes, at markets, in factories, at parties, playing sport and in the gay village. He has captured scientists doing ground-breaking research at Manchester University, fans of the city’s world famous football teams and the state of the art facilities at the BBC in Mediacity.

The images reveal the diversity and inclusive nature of our city and the breadth of activity which takes place. They uncover people’s passions, skills, relationships, quirks – celebrating the humanity of the everyday. A selection of these prints will enter the gallery’s collection.

Starting his career in Manchester, the city had a profound effect on him as it was so different from his childhood home. He recollected: “I remember so well arriving into Manchester in 1970, having travelled from the safety of suburban Surrey. It was exciting and felt very real.”This city sparked his curiosity about people’s lives, what it is to live in a Northern, largely working class and diverse city and he embraced his new context with enthusiasm. After his first year at Manchester Polytechnic, Parr began making cohesive documentary projects which explored a particular subject.

The exhibition opens at Manchester Art Gallery on the 16th of November and runs until 22nd April 2019

 

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