Sarah Gardener
Gardener's work, which spans the mediums of printmaking, photography and filmography, is a meditation on the interconnected relationships we have with the natural environment around us, exploring themes of nostalgia, liminality, and impermanence. Her practice is deeply connected to the wilderness of the coastal hinterland that connects the intertidal zones between land and sea, a transitional space between the lands we inhabit and the vast unknowable. She uses a variety of techniques to manipulate images captured here, layering and fragmenting these to suggest the impressions left on environments, like shadows or ephemeral traces of its history, layering past and present. This speaks to the ever-changing nature of the coast, traces of damage that humanity leaves behind and the way that the natural world reclaims these spaces in spite of this. It also explores deeply introspective aspects of experience, how we are shaped by the people and places that are constants in our lives, and the ephemerality of each passing moment which can only be captured in imperfect memory. The visual narrative of the work alludes to a sense of time slowed in the maelstrom of this modern era, and the black and white imagery enhances the undertone of nostalgia, reinforcing themes of memory and impermanence and embracing the transformative forces of nature.
Details from ‘Traces of ourselves’
‘Traces of Ourselves’
Digital print on paper
2025
432 x 43 cm
These prints originated as photography work taken in this coastal environment, incorporating figurative portraits of family, encaptured and held in fleeting moments on the edgelands and within the intimate spaces of a house and home, where ghosts of childhood linger in the cupboards and corridors. These photographs were then hand-developed by the artist, overlaying the negatives during exposure to create blurred images that feel like fleeting memories captured. These silver gelatin photographs were then taken through a process of screen printing to add further elements and textures, before being digitally scanned. These digital scans were then printed onto a roll of paper, presented across the wall like rolls of negatives, giving insight into the artist’s personal memories of this space.
‘A Watery Body - A shifting Screen’
Screen print on paper
2025
41 x 59 cm
Much of Gardener’s work surrounds her screen printing practice. Photographs taken at the site of the coastal hinterland and reclaimed environments that reveal our interconnected relationship with the natural world are developed into a series of screens. Gardener then prints individual screens and overlays fragments of others, building the works spontaneously to create a sense of the traces humans leave behind in the natural world.
‘Edgeland’
Digital prints on silk organza panels
2025
140 x 244 cm
These prints were created from a still taken during Gardener’s development of her film piece. Three different views of standing on the same pier are overlaid- one looking out towards the ocean, one from on the pier looking back towards land, and one from the very edge of the pier looking back through the glass and wooden framework of its structure towards the coastline. Gardener is particularly fascinated with the history of this structure that presides over the sea, having felt the footfall of the generations as they walk out to the end.
‘Traces in Space and Time’
2025
Moving image
10 minutes 13 seconds
Gardener’s work, which spans the mediums of printmaking, photography and filmography, explores the interconnected relationships we have with the natural environment around us, exploring themes of nostalgia, liminality, and impermanence. Her practice is inspired by her relationship with the coast in Kent, and important place to her family where she spent a large part of her childhood. As a result, her work is deeply connected to the coastal wilderness that bridges the intertidal zones between land and sea, a transitional space between the lands we inhabit and the vast unknowable. This experimental moving image work is a meditation on the interconnected relationships we have with the natural environment and the ephemerality of lived experience. Digital footage shot at this coastal site is manipulated through layered, fragmented visuals and abstract soundscapes to create an impression of the memories she holds of this place. Overall, this piece deconstructs and reinterprets coastal landscapes and depicts the people and places which are defining constants in the artist’s life.