This special edition limited to 70 copies includes the book and one gelatin silver print signed and numbered by Parr. The picture is titled Glenbeigh Races, County Kerry, 1983. The print measures 20.0 x 29.0cm
Martin Parr has been taking photographs in Ireland for 40 years. His work covers many of
the most significant moments in Ireland s recent history, encompassing the Pope s visit in
1979, when a third of the country s population attended Mass in Knock and Phoenix Park
in Dublin, as well as gay weddings and start-up companies in 2019. It is difficult to think of
country that has changed so dramatically in this relatively short space of time. Parr lived
in the West of Ireland between 1980-82. He photographed traditional aspects of rural life
such as horse fairs and dances, but also looked at the first hint of Ireland s new wealth in
the shape of the bungalows that were springing up everywhere, replacing more traditional
dwellings. During subsequent trips to Ireland he explored the new estates around Dublin
and the introduction of the first drive-through McDonald s. Parr also looked at the North
and documented how, after the Good Friday agreement, the Troubles became the focus
of a new tourist boom. The final chapter of this book portrays a contemporary Dublin
where start-up companies are thriving, the docks area is being gentrified and where icons
of wealth and modernity - such as the flat white - can be everywhere. Ireland has also
now voted to allow both abortion and gay weddings, developments that would have been
unthinkable 40 years ago. The book includes an introduction by the acclaimed journalist
Fintan O Toole.
