It’s not your typical book about a Cambridge College, full of rich history, archive imagery and jovial anecdotes – individual stories range from artistic flair and poster design to DNA and the Chapel choir, interwoven with photographs taken by the award-winning Magnum photographer, Martin Parr.
Organising and designing the anthology pieces was the easy part, but getting Martin’s images (largely collected in two sections as visual essays) in the right order and working together was the tricky part because they’re all so vibrant, compelling and individual curiosities. Working closely with the studio to get the colours right, and with Martin himself to get the combination right, what we have is an eclectic visual study of what life at the College is like – and its certainly not stuffy, boring or elitist.
Combined with photographs taken by Eleanor Curtis, a documentary photojournalist who specialises in art, design and architecture and who shoots in black and white, the book embodies a very different view of a Cambridge College to the one most people would expect.
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