Déjà View

The Institut pour la photographie, in partnership with The Anonymous Project and Magnum Photos, presents a new exhibition based on the publication Déjà View by Martin Parr and Lee Shulman, published by Textuel in 2021. 

Color photography began to develop in the 1930s thanks to slides and was initially an amateur pursuit. The Anonymous Project’s extensive collection of more than 500,000 amateur color slides bears witness to this popular craze beginning in the 1940s. It wasn’t until the 1970s that color photography was recognized for its aesthetic qualities by the professional photography community.

British photographer Martin Parr, born in 1952, is considered a pioneer in this field. For more than fifty years, Martin Parr has portrayed contemporary society in its everyday life with a certain irony, notably by playing with framing effects and the saturated colors characteristic of early color photography. 

Vacations and leisure activities—the ideal setting for amateur photography—are among the photographer’s favorite subjects. This visual dialogue between Martin Parr’s photographs and the amateur photographs of the Anonymous Project reveals the photographer’s keen eye and his deep understanding of our society. While his images evoke a sense of "déjà vu", they invite us to question our habits. 

↘︎ Curating: Anne Lacoste

↘︎ Acknowledgments and mentions: Produced in close collaboration with the Portel Media Library and Château Coquelle in Dunkirk, and in partnership with the City of Portel and the City and Urban Community of Dunkirk

↘︎ A traveling exhibition, on display in Le Portel from June 29 to August 28 on the lower seawall along the Promenade de l’Épi