For the record @martinparrfdn sent me a handwritten letter on July 16th. He invited me to the foundation. I was in France at the time filming with the crimes against children unit at Interpol and did not read it until after he stepped down from @BRSphotofest.

I appreciate all the people saying I should meet Parr, have a debate, etc etc.

As a middle-aged white guy I am a net benefiter of structural racism. There is only so much success oxygen. If people like me are breathing it, others aren't. And their careers die.

Too many careers have died.

Enough.

Because of my own childhood I have a mandate to speak up about child abuse in the industry and I will continue to do so. That's the lens through which I view photos. Abusive practice is not just rife. It's celebrated. Hoyn. Datta. Ribeira. Stirton and on and on and on.

The Parr case is important because it touches on all these things. Race. Misogyny. Child abuse. All in very clear and demonstrable ways. Even how a publicly funded arts org exhibited Parr in April 2019 fully knowing about the book and protest and appear to have done nothing.

That's structural racism (imho). On the front end having a zero tolerance policy. In reality, the opposite. Parr only had that power because the industry, unconcerned for the damage, gave it to him. Had they not he would still be Artistic Director of the festival.

Going to spend a little while writing this all up (the full story has not yet been told). With the hope that more people understand if they ignore the relationship between photos and the people in the pictures they may be taking the world one step closer to hell. Thank you x