Reacting to the news of Martin Parr's death, Don McCullin, while expressing his admiration, noted: "Our work was in total contrast - it didn't gel together. We were chalk and cheese."
That was very much underlined by two recent Guardian articles. One - on Wendy Jones' biography of sorts of Parr - quoted Parr as saying "I've had a wonderful life with photography". By contrast, the other - in which McCullin talks about some of his greatest pictures - was headlined with the quote: "It's been a cesspit, really, my life."
McCullin is the very definition of the tortured artist - a photographer who has spent decades documenting the horrific violence that people inflict on each other, and who feels guilty and uncomfortable at having made a career out of it. When interviewer Emine Saner suggests that there is value in bearing witness, McCullin demurs, citing Ukraine and Gaza: "I feel as if I've been riding on other people's pain over the last 60 years, and their pain hasn't helped prevent this kind of tragedy. We've learned nothing."
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