Exhibition
MARTIN PARR
GLOBAL WARNING
From 30 January to 24 May 2026
Jeu de Paume – Paris
This exhibition allows the public to revisit the work of Martin Parr, which captures the absurdities and malfunctions of our contemporary world through the different series created from the late 1970s to the present day. For fifty years, and in locations all around the globe, the photographer has steadily built up a corpus of work that offers a striking portrait of the inequalities of our planet and the excesses of today’s modern lifestyle.
Through his numerous series, starting with those done in Ireland and Great Britain, and then internationally from the 1990s onwards, several recurring themes emerge. These include: the ravages of mass tourism, the prevalence of car culture, our dependence on technology, consumer excess, and even our ambivalent relationship with the living world. Always from his unique, offbeat perspective, Martin Parr indirectly addresses several major recognized causes of climate change: the unchecked use of transportation, the reliance on fossil fuels, global overconsumption, and environmental damage. His work, seemingly light-hearted at first, gradually reveals itself over time and in light of changing mentalities, to be more serious than initially appeared. In retrospect, the satirical dimension of his work places it within a certain British tradition of incisive humour and bittersweet irony, serving an indirect yet profound critique.
Through some one hundred and eighty works spanning over fifty years of production and ranging from his early black and white pieces to recent images, the exhibition addresses the chaos of contemporary society across five main sections, organized according to their recurring themes, motifs, and obsessions. These sections explore the way in which leisure alters the environment.
Curator : Quentin Bajac
