Dimensions: unconfirmed: 390 x 305 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Keith Arnatt | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, this is Keith Arnatt’s "Walking the Dog" from the Tate collection. It's a black and white photograph, and it feels very ordinary, almost like a snapshot. What's your take on it? Curator: Considering Arnatt's wider body of work, I see a commentary on the everyday labor of living. The materials of this photograph, the film and paper, become evidence of a performance, a documented action that elevates the mundane to the level of art. Editor: Performance? It seems just like a picture of a lady with her dog! Curator: Exactly. It's a question of what Arnatt *did* to make this photograph. What processes did he engage? We see not just a subject, but an engagement with the means of production and a questioning of art's value within a common social context. Editor: Ah, so it's not just *what* is in the picture, but *how* it got there. Thanks! Curator: Precisely. It’s about deconstructing the mystique around art creation.
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Walking the Dog is a large series of black and white photographs of individuals standing outside with their dogs. While the locations depicted in the photographs vary from street pavements and country lanes to parks and gardens, all the images in this series share consistent formal characteristics: in each case the single owner stands full-length in the centre of the image facing the camera with the dog at their feet, and no other human or animal can be seen within the tightly framed square shot.
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