Photographer Martin Parr returned to the Wiltshire village of Lacock four decades after his first project there, capturing its flower show, Women's Institute meeting, scarecrow festival, and local characters like the vicar in a union jack bowler hat. The resulting images, completed just months before his death in December 2024, are now on display at the National Trust's Lacock Abbey in what is described as his final commission.
This exhibition matters because it represents the last body of work from one of Britain's most celebrated documentary photographers, known for his wry observations of ordinary life. The project also highlights the enduring character of rural English communities and the power of photography to make the familiar strange, with Parr's images offering a poignant final glimpse of a photographer who could find profound resonance in subjects as simple as a prize-winning potato.