Scott McFarland

Inspecting, Allan O'Connor Searches for Botrytis

Sometimes in our desire to be eco-green warriors we forget what an unnatural art form gardening can be. Without our almost daily care, even the most naturalistic garden will soon began its progression back to a common field.

Canadian artist Scott McFarland reminds us of this symbiotic alliance between humans and plants in this series of photographs I came across the other day.

As a magazine garden editor who has spent years striving (unconsciously?) to keep the more mundane, behind-the-scenes work invisible from magazine readers, I appreciate McFarland's unromantic revelation of what all goes on backstage before the curtain to the general public rises.

From his gallery:

"The space of the garden has long been affiliated with that of photography - many early photographers experimented with the cumbersome, expensive medium by photographing their immediate outdoor surroundings; McFarland has suggested associations between the idiosyncrasies in garden maintenance and those of photographic development processes. Both gardening and photography utilize the same basic elements; light for exposure and energy and liquids for hydration and processing."

Cutting on a Slope 2002

Analyzing, Ryan Otto Conducts Water Test 2003

Filtering, Peter Harrison Changing Water Pump

On the Terrace Garden, Joe and Rosalie Segal with Cosmos atrosanguineus, 2004

Spraying, Norman Whaley Applying Aphid Solution, 2004

Trimming, Late Summer, Sarwan Thind 1999