Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, until 21 December
For nearly half a century, Stephen McCoy has turned his lens on the overlooked corners of Merseyside – its housing estates, demolition sites, coastal landscapes, domestic interiors. Proximity, a retrospective at the Martin Parr Foundation, brings together these disparate series into a quietly revelatory show.
McCoy’s early black & white work Housing Estates (1979-83) captures the stark geometry of Ainsdale’s post-war housing stock. The images are angular, high contrast, playing with shadow and repetition. As the series evolved into colour typologies of near-identical bungalows, photographed under deliberately flat light, subtle variations emerge: shutters, garden ornaments, individual attempts at distinction. Social history told through front lawns.
Equally striking is Personal Space (1980-84), in which McCoy turns to the family home. These images – cropped…
