Martin Parr curates 25 years of photographing Scotland in latest book Think of Scotland

Date
6 September 2017
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Martin Parr: Think of Scotland

“I love Scotland and cannot keep away,” says Martin Parr on his latest publication Think of Scotland. “So I have had many holidays there. Actually, they are not holidays, as I just keep shooting.”

Martin has spent over 25 years documenting and taking photographs of Scotland, enlisting the series as his largest previously unpublished archive to date. Set to release in October, the publication has gathered images from a tremendous period of time to embody the iconography of the country; bagpipers, Scottish landscapes and the Highland games are transformed into images characteristic of Martin’s strange and unknowing style of picture taking. 

“I have always been fascinated by people and society, so photography is my best way to explore this,” Martin tells It’s Nice That. By documenting his subjects up-close, while finding angles or uncomfortable moments that might go unnoticed throughout the everyday, his approach goes hand-in-hand with tourists roaming the dampened streets of Glasgow and an agricultural show in Orkney. The end result is an incomparable technique mixed with ordinary surroundings. 

Alongside his previous publications, Think of England and Think of Germany, Martin’s latest offering has fulfilled the third part of his series. “I am attracted by cliches as a starting point, and that is why I keep coming back to this phrase,” he explains. When asked about how he curated such a large amount of work collated over the years, Martin explains how he “kept the best and dropped the majority; it’s not easy to get good photos”. Filled with 144 pages of sightly unnerving, disturbing, windy yet honest and sweet photographs, Think of Scotland will be a visual portal into both Martin’s mind and the Scottish way of life. 

Think of Scotland will be available to purchase for £34 via Damiani Editore on 26 October.

Above

Martin Parr: Think of Scotland

Above

Martin Parr: Think of Scotland

Above

Martin Parr: Think of Scotland

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About the Author

Ayla Angelos

Ayla is a London-based freelance writer, editor and consultant specialising in art, photography, design and culture. After joining It’s Nice That in 2017 as editorial assistant, she was interim online editor in 2022/2023 and continues to work with us on a freelance basis. She has written for i-D, Dazed, AnOther, WePresent, Port, Elephant and more, and she is also the managing editor of design magazine Anima. 

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