February 26, 2007
Don't cry for me
Martin Parr
I am now back home in the UK, after completing my tour of South America, where I have been shooting the beaches for a project that documents the four biggest beach resorts.
My final destination was Argentina where I went to Mar del Plata, which is by far its biggest resort. What a remarkable place. We all know those scenes of post-war Coney Island, with crammed beaches. Well this is just like that, but still going strong 50 years later. The place is packed.
Martin Parr has visited Argentina before. This image is from a trip to Buenos Aires in 1998.
Unlike the Chileans, the beach is crowded by mid-morning, where virtually everything under the planet is brought around and sold. There are wagons loaded with swim wear, various Argentine snacks and of course the usual trays of cheap jewellery sold by black Africans. These guys are the only people who give you grief when you pick up a camera within their vicinity. Otherwise it is wonderful to photograph in Argentina, people are friendly and not at all suspicious of photographers as the public has become in the West.
I then went to Buenos Aires where I gave a lecture at MALBA, a private museum built to house a collection of art, and a stunning new building. The shows are beautifully presented and they even have an escalator, probably the only one in an art museum in South America.
The day before I was taken to Centro de Fotografia Contemporanea in La Plata, which is 60 kms away from Buenos Aires. This small but vibrant gallery is run by a photographer, Ataulfo Perez Aznar.
As I travel around, it is always remarkable to stumble across people like him, who keep the flame of photography alive and well. The gallery has been self-financed since it opened in 1980 when Ataulfo began to collect and show photography with a dedication and enthusiasm that is awesome. He has also built up a good collection of photography books, and this is the kind of collection that can reveal to me the hidden gems of the photography book world. I was not disappointed as various books, published in South America, that I had never seen were brought out and I was soon scribbling names, ready to hit the internet to see if they can be located.
Back in Buenos Aires, I visited the apartment of Marcos Lopez, one of the most successful of the new generation of Argentine photographers. Like anyone who actually thrives in South America, he has achieved this by having an international career. Like Chile, it is almost impossible to survive without commercial work, as the market for selling prints is very fragile.
What is so compelling about these territories is that there appears to be a passion for photography that we have lost in the more developed West.
Photography in less developed territories has a drive that is both refreshing and re-assuring. Sometimes I think our loss of innocence, and how commoditised photography has become, is as much a hindrance as an advantage.
Published on the Magnum Blog on February 26, 2007
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