Exhibition Showcases Martin Parr’s Final Photos Taken Months Before His Death

Scarecrow Festival, Lacock, Wiltshire, England, 2025 | © Martin Parr/Magnum Photos

An exhibition will showcase Martin Parr’s final commissioned photos that were taken months before his death.

Parr, considered one of most influential photographers in history, passed away in December at 73 following a multi-year battle with cancer.

The U.K.’s National Trust will now exhibit the final major commission created by the late British photographer. The exhibition entitled Lacock by Martin Parr opens at the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock Abbey on Saturday, June 27, 2026.

Parr first photographed Lacock, a village in Wiltshire, England early in his career in the 1980s and further developed the distinctive documentary style that brought him international acclaim. Four decades later, in 2025, Parr returned to Lacock to create a deeply human portrait of the village, its people, and its rhythms of daily life. The images would be his final major commission project.

The exhibition offers a rare, intimate insight into the Magnum photographer’s concluding year of work and form vivid portrait of contemporary Britain as experienced through a single Wiltshire village. The exhibition is presented at Lacock Abbey which is globally recognised as the home of photography through the pioneering work of Henry Fox Talbot, according to a press release by the National Trust. It was at Lacock that Talbot invented the calotype process in 1835.

“Martin knew that modern photography began at Lacock, and it was important to him that this remarkable place should feature in his archive. What we did not foresee is that this project would end up being his last major commission,” Dr Andy Cochrane, Curator at Lacock, says in a statement. “That it was focused on the place where photography began, poetically closes the circle. Martin was smart, serious, witty, and hardworking. Collaborating with him was a joy, and his focus on Lacock last year was his gift to us all.”

Alongside the exhibition, the National Trust has published an accompanying book of the exhibition images with a foreword by Susie Parr, the acclaimed photographer’s widow, reflecting on the significance of Lacock in her husband’s life and creative journey.

“It is such a bittersweet experience for me to look through these photos of Lacock taken by Martin over the past year. There are so many echoes from his work throughout his long career,” Susie says.”It’s a credit to Martin that he made this work, so full of the life he loved, when his health was failing so dramatically. What a great way to end such a distinguished career, back in the home of photography.”

Lacock by Martin Parr opens at the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock Abbey on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and runs through June 27, 2027. The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with Magnum Photos and the Martin Parr Foundation, supported by the National Trust’s photo printing partner CEWE.