[Fall 2026]
“He Has an Eye”
By Julie Martin
[EXCERPT]
“He has an eye.” That’s what I heard over and over during my visit to Global Warning, Martin Parr’s solo exhibition at Jeu de Paume in Paris. You’ll forgive me for beginning with some gentle ribbing; the curator, Quentin Bajac, seemed to issue an invitation in his introduction when he mentioned Parr’s “biting irony.” Behind this obvious observation – which is even a bit of a cliché, as Parr is easily associated with the kind of street photography that consists of capturing Henri Cartier-Bresson’s famous “decisive moment” – lies the idea of a more unusual exploration of vision than is evident at first glance.
Who looks? Who is seen? How do looks at people converge? How do they intersect? These questions, intrinsic to Parr’s work, are on full display in Global Warning. In five thematic spaces, “Terre de loisirs et de déchets,” “Tout doit disparaître,” “Petite planète,” “Le règne animal,” and “Addiction technologique,” his photographs draw our attention to our habits and attitudes. Whether it’s what we do at the beach, how we consume goods and tourist sites, or how we relate to animals or technologies, Parr turns our actions into loci of multiple gazes.
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[ Complete issue, in print and digital version, available here: Ciel variable 133 – INTIMACIES ]
[ Complete article in digital version available here : “He Has an Eye” ]
Julie Martin is an associate professor at Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès in France. Her research interests include documentary approaches to art in the era of fluid images and the connections between art and politics. With Sara Alonso Gómez, she wrote Contre-visualités, écarts tactiques dans l’art contemporain (2023). She is a co-founder of Les éditions Lorelei and co-editor of the “Friction” collection. She is also an art critic and exhibition curator.