A.O.N.B. (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) 1982 - 1984

Editor: So, this is Keith Arnatt's "A.O.N.B. (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty)" from around the 1970s. It's a black and white photograph of a ruined castle overlooking a river. It feels quite bleak and ironic given the title. What's your take on Arnatt's perspective here? Curator: The irony is precisely the point. Arnatt critiques the romantic ideal of the 'picturesque' often associated with these designated areas. He's interrogating how we frame and consume "natural beauty" through a lens of class, power, and societal expectation. The photograph asks us, who benefits from this constructed vision of beauty and who is excluded? Editor: That's fascinating. It makes me see the barrier in the foreground differently, as a literal and metaphorical boundary. Curator: Exactly. Consider also the history embedded in that ruin and the labor that built it. The image invites us to unpack these layers and question whose stories are being told, and whose are erased, within this seemingly idyllic landscape. Editor: I never would have considered all of that from just looking at it. I appreciate the depth of analysis. Curator: And I'm encouraged by your insights into the material conditions of the landscape, as an important element in interpreting the politics of the image.