A View from the Vault: Ken Smith's "The Garden"
by Victoria S. Kenyon, doctoral candidate in art history, graduate research assistant, University Museums
An anthropomorphic figure rests in a barren garden landscape. It is clearly not living, but a red heart sits within the hollow, cage-like chest. The branches behind and around the mannequin bear shriveled, papery fruits, one of which lies on the ground. In the background, a curved form slithers away. The scene is like a theatrical retelling of the serpent’s deception in the Garden of Eden, with a few tricks of its own.
The Garden (1992), created by Ken Smith (b. 1947), defies our expectations about what a photograph should look like. The edges of the image bleed and blend into the paper almost as if they have been painted. These material qualities make us question if what we see in this photo is reality, or if it is even a photograph.
Smith created this Polaroid® transfer, by capturing the scene with Polaroid® film. He then opened the packet that housed the developer chemicals and dyes and, while they were still combining to form the initial photograph, he pressed the open Polaroid® packet to a new sheet of paper. The result is a transformed, mirror image of the initial photo.
Object info: Ken Smith. The Garden. 1992. Polaroid transfer. Sight or Plate Size Height: 4″ (10.16 cm) Sight or Plate Size Width: 3-1/16″ (7.82 cm) Paper Height: 4-3/8″ (11.16 cm) Paper Width: 3-3/8″ (8.62 cm) Mount Height: 14-1/16″ (35.76 cm) Mount Width: 11″ (27.94 cm)
Smith earned an MFA in Theatrical Scenic Design, Lighting and Technical Direction and spent a portion of his career designing stage sets and props for television ads, theatre and occasionally films alongside his work as a commercial photographer. In his manipulated photographs, he uses the skills he developed in building artificial worlds to create vignettes that gesture to broader stories.
The Garden inverts our view of what is real. Smith’s careful design and lighting makes it appear as a stage set, perhaps an appropriate setting for the ancient story it references. In doing so, it encourages the viewer to take another look at both the photograph and the constructed realities around them.
“A View from the Vault” showcases some of the unique, notable or rare items that are a part of the Special Collections and Museums holdings at the University of Delaware. Each month, we highlight a different work and share interesting facts or intriguing histories about it. If you are interested in seeing any of the materials featured in person or want to learn more about any work showcased in the series, please contact Special Collections and Museums at AskSpec or AskMuseums.