Dimensions: support: 404 x 304 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Keith Arnatt | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: This photograph, simply titled "Gardeners," is by Keith Arnatt. Its dimensions are 404 x 304 mm and is part of the Tate Collections. What strikes you about it? Editor: There's a somber stillness to it, a sort of posed authenticity achieved through the stark black and white. The gardener looks directly at us with giant shears that suggest the labor and control imposed on the natural world. Curator: Absolutely. Arnatt often explored themes of labor and the everyday. In what ways does the image speak to the performance of masculinity and class within a specific social landscape? Editor: The very tools suggest a tension. Are these shears for shaping, or for destruction? The garden's meticulous upkeep mirrors a broader societal expectation—perhaps a pressure to conform? Curator: The banality of the garden work underscores the way that power operates within a domestic context, shaping not only the landscape but also individual identities. Editor: Precisely. This image urges us to examine the materials and social context involved in something we often take for granted: a well-maintained garden. Curator: It reminds us to consider the power dynamics involved. Editor: Indeed. The photograph prompts us to look beyond the surface.
Comments
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
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.
CollectMore like this
