Life’s a Beach
A special edition of Martin Parr's photography exhibition, in collaboration with Magnum Photos
Photo exhibition by Martin Parr
in collaboration with Magnum Photos
Palazzo Callas Exhibitions,
March 23 – June 30, 2024
Inauguration: Friday 22 March, 11:00 am
Beaches are places where people can be themselves, revealing their humanity in unique and surprising ways. An authentic and special dimension where you can relax and show off all those slightly eccentric nuances of your personality, along with often extravagant and bizarre behaviors.
In the UK you are never more than seventy-five miles from the coast, it is no surprise that there is a strong British tradition of seaside photography. Martin Parr began photographing this subject in the 1970s in the United Kingdom and went on to photograph beaches around the world, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Japan, the United States, Mexico and Thailand. offering a unique and surprising look at the customs and seaside rituals of different countries and cultures.
Martin Parr writes:
“I have photographed the beach for many decades, documenting every single aspect of this tradition, including close-ups of swimmers, restless swimmers caught in the middle of a dive, and the endless picnic going on on the sand. […] You can understand a lot about a country by observing its beaches: across cultures, the beach represents that rare public space in which the most extravagant and bizarre national behaviors can be found”.
Here on Lake Garda we are particularly experts when it comes to beaches. This special edition of LIFE’S A BEACH shows us Martin Parr at his best, with his amusing clichés, rituals, traditions and hilarious absurdities linked to beach life and is enriched by some unpublished photographs of Parr himself taken in Sirmione and on Lake Garda. We thus have the privilege of seeing ourselves portrayed by the unsurpassed irony of the lens of the great British photographer.
The exhibition is embellished with a special installation that accompanies the public in a relaxing seaside atmosphere.
Martin Parr is one of the best-known documentary photographers of his generation. With over 100 books published and another 30 edited, his photographic legacy is already consolidated. Parr also works as a curator and publisher. He has curated two photography festivals: Arles in 2004 and the Brighton Biennial in 2010. He recently curated the exhibition Strange and Familiar at the Barbican Center in London.
Parr has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1994, of which he was president from 2013 to 2017. In 2013 he was appointed visiting professor of photography at Ulster University. Parr’s works have been collected by many of the most important museums, from the Tate Museum, to the Pompidou, to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2017 he founded the Martin Parr Foundation.
Life’s a beach: introduction to the exhibition
LIFE’S A BEACH: the colophon, the poster and the press kitt
IThe visitors book: comments from visitors to the exhibition
Beach frees everyone in the palace halls:
Beach sets everyone free at Palazzo Callas: the photo gallery of the installation
A benevolent look at the “beach types” who are so similar to us the exhibition told by the press
Sirmione beach: Corriere della Sera talks about the exhibition
I love the beach, I love Italians: Enjoy! The LIFE’S A BEACH video
Andrèa Holzherr presents LIFE’S A BEACH
Greetings from Sirmione: 8 postcards to celebrate the exhibition
LIFE’S A BEACH
Photo exhibition by Martin Parr
in collaboration with Magnum Photos
Palazzo Callas Exhibitions,
March 23 – June 30, 2024
Inauguration: Friday 22 March, 11:00 am
Opening time
Every day 10.30am-12.30pm and 4.30pm-7pm
Friday and Saturday 10.30am-12.30pm and 4.30pm-10.00pm
Closed on Mondays, except holidays
Free admission
Info, Culture and Tourism Office: cultura@sirmionebs.it – 030 9909 184
