Martin Parr takes his fair share of flak, but you have to give him credit for the concept behind his latest exhibition, at the Magnum Paris Gallery. It puts his reputation as a master of the photographic arts to the test - and, in broader terms, questions what we mean by quality and professionalism - by pairing his images with those of amateurs and inviting visitors to guess whose is whose.
Parr has been criticised for a patronising, sneering attitude to his subjects and indeed has come close to admitting as much to France 24: "There's a bit of mischief in my pictures, and I think that's why people in France like them, because they get an opportunity to poke fun at the English. And I'm very happy to provide that catalyst."
But with this exhibition - a collaboration with Lee Shulman of the wonderful Anonymous Project that has come out of their book Deja View - he's also poking fun at himself: a supposed titan of photography whose images are difficult to distinguish from amateurs' hastily taken snaps of family and friends.
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