One of Britain’s most influential photographers and a brilliant satirist of contemporary culture, Martin Parr has excelled at skewering the eccentricities and peculiarities of contemporary national culture in his native Great Britain and beyond—in particular food, tourism, bad fashion choices and . . . more food. Mexico (Aperture, October 2006), his latest thematic series of photographs, presents the artist’s recent journey into and beyond Mexico’s clichés. In typical Parr fashion, he turns traditional social documentary into something humorous and provocative through his use of saturated colors and innovative imagery. Coupled with his always colorful close-ups of food, Parr’s photographs in Mexico are comic, opinionated and affectionately satirical.

Parr’s great achievement as a photographer is his ability to transform the obvious into the surprising. As he puts it, “I’m constantly trying to express ambiguity. And that’s what photography does very well.” His tour of Mexican kitsch—food, tourism, clothing, signs, souvenirs and more—both critiques and celebrates the corruption of this authentic culture by global consumerism.

“Mexico’s traditional green and red is backed by a foil-stamped light burst. The spirit and flavor of Mexico is instantly captured, setting the stage for the photos that follow.”