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Magnum
Farce
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an interview which Parr gave to the British Journal of Photography in
1993, he said: "I use prejudice as a starring point. I then build a body
of work on the prejudice associated with that subject. By subverting a
subject I invite people to exercise their prejudice... I take pictures
of what I feel needs to be photographed; I am exploring my own intuitive
sense of what I find interesting. When you do that, many issues may evolve,
but it is not my role to resolve them." We may legitimately ask, in the
case of advertisements, whose role is it, then? Grogan makes her position clear: "I always check with the photographer about any specific usage, but Magnum has no overall policy on advertising. It is up to the photographer to agree or refuse." Martin Parr: "I judge each image on its merits, but it is difficult to pin down what is legitimate and what is not. There are no set ground rules." He acknowledges that the Pepe adverts were borderline cases, but: "The people in the pictures were told about the captions, and it was up to them to agree or refuse." It is worth recalling that many Magnum archive prints bear a stamp on the reverse requiring users to respect the integrity of the image and the spirit of the captions. The picture in the first two Pepe ads was originally part of a large project on the British middle classes. It shows a Conservative Party summer fête. Using Parr's yardstick, what prejudice are we being invited to exercise here? Do we laugh at the odd way in which these people stand, or dress, or look? Or do we delve further into the value-systems we attribute to these individuals? Surely, they are mealy-mouthed, narrow-minded little-Englanders? But we are all uneasy facing a camera, and specially one suddenly thrust at you like an offensive weapon. (Parr on his working methods: "I go in very close to people because it's the only way you can get the picture. You go right up to them. Even now, I don't find it easy. I pretend to be focussing elsewhere... I don't try and hide what I'm doing - that would be folly" BJP, 1989.) The fact is, neither we nor Parr know anything about these individuals, other than they were attending a Tory garden party. They are, therefore, being used as props in a photographic sideshow; the pictures invite us to throw sponges at the cardboard cut-outs. It would be disconcerting for Parr if he were to discover that these individuals were actually rather kind and caring, and did not believe that criminals should be flogged in public. As a photographer, he cannot afford to know anything about them as people, because this would upset his attitudinal apple cart. (The second Pepe ad featuring a man on a lawnmower reads: "Cut this out and stick it up your arse.") So, three people at a particular summer fete in Bath, end up in an advert for trendy jeans with a derogatory copy line: " The world is full of people you hope you'll never meet." The advertiser's technique is more overt than Parr's own; these gruesome people wouldn't be seen dead with these people. Have the "Creatives" at the advertising agency fallen into Parr's prejudicial trap, assuming that the picture was originally taken as a form of cultural subversion? Or have they recognized that in Parr's work, human beings are just symbols being used to sustain and reinforce a predetermined set of values and attitudes? In that case, photographs taken in one specific situation can be used in any other. As Parr himself said: "Anyone can be made to look like an idiot. I am aware at times what an idiot I would look photographed." Photographer David Hurn, a member of Magnum for years, ponders on this matter: "There is nothing wrong as such with a photograph being used out of context. Prints get sold these days for a lot of money, and many famous photographers exhibit work which was originally taken for editorial reproduction." When it comes to advertising, however, Hurn believes it is more difficult. "If an editorial photograph is being used to sell a product, I am more concerned about its tone, Is it vulgar, or not? Is it decent and honest? Photographers have no right to abuse other human beings." Colin
Jacobson is a freelance picture editor and visiting lecturer in the
Centre for Journalism Studies, |
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