Amanda Harman

Garden Stories, Hidden Labours. This series of unintended or accidental still lives, made around the gardens and outbuildings of an English Country House, seeks to make visible the unseen and often unsung work of the gardeners. My first encounter with these gardens was as a volunteer, working in the cut flower garden for a year, alongside the other gardeners. Later, I was drawn back to the gardens to make pictures of my experiences there. With its particular sense of place, the historic buildings still in daily use and the connections to the past histories of the garden, there were many hidden stories to bring to light. By uncovering the small signs of the day to day - the tending of plants, their protection from insects, disease and weather; the nurturing of seedlings and tender plants in the glasshouses, the harvesting, drying and storing of crops, and the gathering of flowers to be arranged and placed in the house - these observations seek to embody the gardener’s labours and to reveal the unseen stories of the gardens, and those who tend them. “These images speak softly of those who have gone before, lonely people, busy people, lovers, workers, poets, people who care.” Tim Andrews 2015