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 photographic work, “Gardeners,” presents us with a seemingly simple tableau. What strikes you upon first viewing it? Editor: A melancholic stillness. The black and white almost feels like a memory, though there's life too. The little girl seems caught in a world of her own. Curator: Indeed. Arnatt frequently explored themes of presence and absence, and here, the formal composition—the stark contrast, the planar depth—emphasizes this. Editor: It makes you wonder what’s on their minds. He with his pipe, her with her flowers. Are they connected or just sharing the same space? It's like a stage. Curator: Perhaps Arnatt is using this familiar domestic scene to subtly question the nature of relationships, the construction of family, and our place within it. Editor: It's a gentle nudge, though. I appreciate the quietness, the feeling of being allowed to observe without intruding. A tender moment made eternal. Curator: Yes, and the rigorous formal presentation elevates the mundane, inviting deeper contemplation. Editor: Exactly, Keith Arnatt captures a slice of ordinary life and gives it a subtle, unforgettable poignancy.
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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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