Simon Robert’s photographs create a portrait of Britain over the last ten years
“All my photographs deal with specifics – it’s details and facts that matter,” says Simon on what he looks for in an image. “Landscape photography is all about generalisation, sweeping views and atmosphere. Mine are not – the photographs have to read intently, spatially, figuratively. They are layered documents.” A strong emphasis on scale can be found in Simon’s documentary style images, where environments are portrayed to look more like grand film sets as vignettes seemingly play out within them.Martin Parr
At first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated or even grotesque. The motifs he chooses are strange, the colours are garish and the perspectives are unusual. Parr’s term for the overwhelming power of published images is “propaganda”. He counters this propaganda with his own chosen weapons: criticism, seduction and humour. As a result, his photographs are original and entertaining, accessible and understandable. But at the same time they show us in a penetrating way how we live, how we present ourselves to others, and what we value.
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