Tuesday, July 02, 2024

Broken Britain

Brexit, COVID-19 clusterfuck, austerity, Grenfell, the Windrush scandal, sewage-filled rivers and seas: just some of the most egregious legacies of 14 years of Tory (mis)rule, captured in this Guardian gallery of images by photographers including Niall McDiarmid, Craig Easton and Dafydd Jones.

For Martin Parr, one of those whose work is featured, using a camera to hold a mirror up to nature is an inherently left-wing pursuit: "Ask any documentary photographer and they'll probably say the same. They have an empathy with people. I've never met a right-wing documentary photographer. I don't think they exist."

Even in the modern era of image manipulation and cynicism, pictures retain the power to cut through the veneer of political spin and bullshit to expose the stark realities in a way that is very often more effective and affecting than words.

No comments: