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 photograph, "Walking the Dog." It's a black and white photo, and there's something very still about it. A man and his dog, posing formally against this old ruin. What's your take on it? Curator: Well, it tickles me, this image. It's almost aggressively ordinary, isn't it? The man with his loyal mutt. But Arnatt was a conceptual prankster. Is it about mortality? Is the ruin a stand-in for the body, the dog representing…faithfulness? Maybe he’s just showing us the quiet dignity in everyday life. What do you think? Editor: I hadn't considered the deeper symbolism. It's more complex than I first thought. Curator: That’s the magic, isn’t it? A pinch of humor, a dash of melancholy, and a whole lot of questions.
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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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