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 print, "Gardeners," presents a black and white image of a woman standing in a garden, part of the Tate Collection. Editor: There's a quiet dignity to this image. It's formally composed, yet it captures a very ordinary scene, hinting at themes of labor and aging. Curator: Arnatt's work often explores the mundane. This piece reflects the social context of British domesticity, specifically the roles and expectations placed upon women in the mid-20th century. Editor: Exactly. We see this figure framed by both nature and architecture, suggesting an intersection of constructed space and natural agency – a woman literally rooted in her place, her dress blending into the background. Curator: The lack of a specific date allows viewers to project their own interpretations, emphasizing the timelessness of these social structures. Editor: It leaves me thinking about visibility, representation, and who gets to be seen and remembered. It is a moving piece. Curator: Indeed. It is important to consider the power structures that govern image-making and their continued impact.
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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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