Martin Parr was a chronicler of our age. In the face of the constantly growing flood of images released by the media, his photographs offer us the opportunity to see the world from his unique perspective.

At first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated or even grotesque. The motifs he chose were strange, the colours were garish and the perspectives were unusual. Parr’s term for the overwhelming power of published images was “propaganda”. He countered this propaganda with his own chosen weapons: criticism, seduction and humour. As a result, his photographs are original and entertaining, accessible and understandable. But at the same time they show us in a penetrating way how we live, how we present ourselves to others and what we value. —Thomas Weski (abridged).