Full Kit Gardeners, 2021
Alan Ward

Triptych: 2 x early 1900s glass negatives, 1 modern. Hand coloured (digitally) on archival 300gsm HP Satin Art, antique frame. Edition: No. 2
identically framed work one remains in the artist’s collection
Framed dimensions: 72cm x 42cm

As a collector of early 1900s glass negatives, I found the juxtaposition of the two early photographic portraits amongst the vegetables to be a curious composition.

There is often a self-referential aspect to, or adoption of persona within my practice. I am the grandson of a Norfolk market gardener and I revisited one of the very first photographs I took as a boy*, of him amongst his cabbages on the farm, to complete this triptych. This work was made during the ‘Pass! Shoot!! Goal!!!’ commission with Touchstones Rochdale, as a side-project.

* See An Archive Reimagined, ‘Photographs from Another Place’ page 2