Author(s): Martin Parr

Photography

160 boring postcards of the British Isles, reproduced as they have been found, actual size, from the collection of the great iconoclast of British photography, Martin Parr. This is a serious art book, a depiction of a tragic Britain with tragic taste, and a photographic entertainment which a large audience will enjoy. 160 postcards are reproduced as they have been found, in their actual size, with all the character of their original reproduction, amateur retouching, crinkly edges and bent corners. Treated as art objects with a classic white border surround, each are captioned with their original description as printed on the front or the reverse - for example: 'T&G,W,U Recuperation Centre, Littleport'; 'View from the Berry Court Holiday Flatlets, Brixham, South Devon'; 'A40 Traffic'; 'The M1 Service Area at Newport Pagnall'; 'Market Precinct, Scunthorpe'; 'A Bend on Porlock Hill' etc. All the postcards featured will depict places in the British Isles; most stem from a period of optimism in Britain as new civic centres, motorways, airports, and power stations were built and launched; souvenirs of 60s and 70s achievements we now question. For a postcard to qualify as sufficiently 'boring', either its composition, or its content, or the characters featured, must be arguably boring; or the photograph must be absent of anything which might conventionally be described as interesting. Of course the postcards finally are not boring at all, but powerful, interesting and loaded statements about time and place and the aesthetic of Britain.