The debut exhibition at London's Science Museum's Media Space also happens to be the first ever major London exhibition of work by British Photographer, Tony Ray-Jones, together with 50 rarely seen early black and white photographs, The Non-Conformists, by Martin Parr. In Ray-Jones and Parr, the exhibitions draws upon the work of two of the most incisive documentary photographers of British life. Before his untimely death from leukemia in 1972, Ray-Jones compiled an archive of work exploring English customs and identity. This in turn had a lasting influence on the work of other photographers, including Martin Parr.
The exhibition comprises 50 vintage prints as well as 50 previously unseen images from the Tony Ray-Jones archive, held by the National Media Museum. It was Martin Parr who helped to select these new prints, from a selection of over 2,700 contact sheets and negatives. As for Parr's work, it has only ever been exhibited in Hebden Bridge and at Camerawork Gallery, London in 1981.
Only in England: Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr will run at Media Space, Science Museum from 21 September 2013 to 16 March 2014. The exhibition will then be on display at the National Media Museum from 22 March to 29 June 2014. Admission £8, Concessions £5.