Dimensions: support: 404 x 304 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Keith Arnatt | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Keith Arnatt's photograph, titled "Gardeners," presents us with a disarmingly direct portrait. The dimensions of the support are 404 by 304 mm. Editor: It's stark. The contrast between the gardener's worn face and the unkempt garden is quite evocative. There's a certain melancholy, a sense of time passing. Curator: The gardener, holding what seems to be a riddle or sieve, acts as a symbol, a visual anchor that invites scrutiny into the history of labor and rural representation. What does his presence, and the composition, tell us about societal values at the time? Editor: Perhaps it speaks to the often-overlooked role of the working class, particularly those connected to the land. The lack of idealization is striking; this isn't a romantic view of rural life. Curator: Indeed, Arnatt seems to want us to see the reality, maybe even the weight, inherent in this profession. It's less about the beauty of the garden and more about the human element within it. Editor: And in that respect, the gardener becomes almost archetypal, embodying a timeless connection to the earth. It’s a quiet commentary, isn’t it? Curator: Absolutely. It leaves one pondering the quiet dignity, perhaps even the burden, carried by those who work the land.
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Gardeners 1978–9 is a large series of black and white photographs that depicts individuals standing outdoors in the gardens they tend, which vary in character from sprawling fields in the countryside to small urban front gardens. Although the gardeners’ poses, expressions and clothing differ, they are all shown full-length standing in the mid-ground of the scene and looking towards the camera. The selection of forty prints from this series in the Tate collection (Tate T13087–T13126) was made and exhibited in 1979 for Keith Arnatt’s solo exhibition at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London. A different selection of prints was exhibited in his 1989 touring solo exhibition Rubbish and Recollections (Cambridge Darkroom; Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno; The Photographers’ Gallery, London; Ffotogallery, Cardiff). Arnatt took the photographs that make up this series during 1978 and 1979. To do so, he visited the sitters at their homes, photographing them in their own gardens. The series title, Gardeners, focuses the viewer’s attention on the gardeners rather than the gardens themselves, although the way in which Arnatt presents the individuals surrounded by the grass, foliage and sometimes concrete of their settings, with little else in view, suggests the intimate connection between the gardeners and their land. The repetitive nature of the composition and poses across each of the forty photographs also has the effect of drawing together a diverse group of people who have been photographed as a result of a shared hobby.
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