The Usual

Food is a recurring theme for Surrey-born, Martin Parr. Some of his best-known images feature iconically British fare, such as fish and chips, cups of tea, and full English breakfasts, often glistening unappetizingly in his signature flash. The informal portrait he created for this portfolio shows the chef-owner of a Bristol restaurant, which describes itself as an Italian-influenced neighborhood spot that serves a daily-changing seasonal menu. Aside from a partially visible bowl of fruit, there is no food in this frame—the cooking here is apparently so good that the plates on the tables have been scraped clean. Also notably absent from this glimpse of Parr’s own culinary preferences are the saturated colors that characterize many of his photographs.

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By comparison, Liz Johnson Artur’s relaxed yet engaged portrait of three workers at a French-Caribbean food truck in South London, where she is a regular customer, seems more in keeping with her broader practice. It is easy to imagine this image fitting into what the artist, who was born in Bulgaria to Russian and Ghanaian parents and raised in Germany, calls the “Black Balloon Archive.” Her on-going project documents the daily lives of members of African diasporic communities all over the world. As in so many of the portraits that make up that series, the sitters here regard the camera with awareness and trust. These three men serve what Johnson Artur describes as “comfort food outside home.”

Finally, Thurstan Redding, who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in France, Singapore, Vietnam, and China, chose to photograph his parents in his own London home. In fact, he posed them in his kitchen, though any signs of cooking or eating are hidden by the white photographic backdrop he set up. The artist explains that food is the love language of his family, particularly for his mother, a refugee of the Vietnam War. In his practice as a fashion photographer, Redding is accustomed to directing professional models in front of his camera. Applying the same techniques, he created a series of expressive and intimate headshots of his parents.

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The imagery here reveals that, despite their varied international experiences and different styles, each of these British photographers finds comfort in food closest to home.

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