Martin Parr, Jeu de Paume and the Paris Metro

My regular metro route gave me a chance to smile every time I saw Martin Parr’s photographs.  One day, as I entered a car and sat down at the Bastille stop, a Martin Parr image of a dog with a crooked nose peered back at the passengers there through the open doors. My eyes went from the photo to a girl sitting next to the door. She had a key chain dangling from her bag. Ironically, it almost matched the Martin Parr dog. Just like Martin Parr, I found the humor in the ordinary. His style of photography focused on the social classes and consumerism (e.g., key chain collections).

Amid the screeching of the metro brakes against the rails, I took the time one day to shoot videos at Hôtel de Ville’s metro stop. The RATP Invite gives “pride of place” to photographers and their images on the metro walls throughout the year.

Slowly moving along Martin Parr’s photos, it took the equivalent of three metros stopping and leaving to finish my work. Finally, I took the fourth metro. I remembered how fast-paced life can be and sometimes it is good to stop.

Since I like to visit and write about exhibitions, I really had the feeling this time of being in an art gallery. I had already visited the Martin Parr exhibit at Jeu de Paume twice. The metro stations were the condensed version and much less crowded than the museum.

One of the sponsors of the Jeu de Paume’s “Global Warning” exhibition is the RATP. A selection of Martin Parr’s photos and all selected photographers in the future can be seen at 17 train and metro stations.

Since 2013 RATP has regularly scheduled images of photographers, French or foreign, including young talents and recognized artists on the platform walls. Their webpage lists all the artists who have had the honor to be displayed and caused me to stop and enjoy the moment while on the metro. RATP Invite’s next featured photographer after Martin Parr is still a mystery.

My approach is to criticize the conditions in the First World, what we are doing with mass tourism, the greenhouse effect, the lack of sustainability in our way of life, and so on. Those are my issues, but I package them in an entertaining way. Because if serious issues are only presented seriously, they achieve nothing, because no one wants to know about it.

Martin Parr

At Jeu de Paume when I saw the documentary “I Am Martin Parr” about his life, I realized how ahead of his time and offbeat he actually was and stayed that way until he stopped shooting forever. Even while pushing his walker, with camera around his neck, he was still capturing the unusual with irony. The last shows for this documentary are May 13, 16, 23 and 24 in English. Otherwise, you can watch the YouTube trailer for “I am Martin Parr”.

For over fifty years, Martin Parr had an offbeat vision of human nature in action. He passed away in December 2025 and was taking photos in Italy until two days before the end. His photographs from the 1970s until the 2020s were already predicting the effects of mass tourism, the rise of car culture, dependence on technology and consumerism. 

If you cannot get a reservation to enter the exhibit (separate ticket from the cinema documentary), there is always a non-ticket holder line. To read about the sections of the exhibition follow this LINK or find them on my photo gallery page.

When you see the next RATP “Invite” photographer’s exhibition on the metro, take a moment.

Let the trains pass and feel like you are in an underground art gallery.