'Paradise haunts gardens', writes Derek Jarman, 'and it haunts mine.' Jarman's public image is that of a film-maker of genius, whose work, dwelling on themes of sexuality and violence, became a byword for controversy. But the private man was the creator of his own garden-paradise in an environment that many might think was more of a hell than a heaven - in the flat, bleak, often desolate expanse of shingle that faces the Dungeness nuclear power station. Jarman, a passionate gardener from childhood, combined his painter's eye, his horticultural expertise and his ecological convictions to produce a landscape which combined the flints, shells and driftwood of Dungeness; sculptures made from stones, old tools and found objects; the area's indigenous plants; and shrubs and flowers introduced by Jarman himself.
This book is Derek Jarman's own record of how this garden evolved, from its earliest beginnings in 1986 to the last year of his life. More than 150 photographs taken since 1991 by his friend and photographer Howard Sooley capture the garden at all its different stages and at every season of the year. Photographs from all angles reveal the garden's complex geometrical plan, its magical stone circles and its beautiful and bizarre sculptures. We also catch glimpses of Jarman's life in Dungeness: walking, weeding, watering, or just enjoying life.
Derek Jarman's Garden is the last book Jarman ever wrote. Like the garden itself, it remains as a fitting memorial to a brilliant and greatly loved artist who, against all odds, made a breathtakingly beautiful garden in the most inhospitable of places. It will appeal to all those who are themselves practising gardeners, as well as the legions of admirers of this extraordinary man.
Industry Reviews
Jarman's last book, completed in his dying year, is an assembly of thoughts and memories, mostly about his garden, but also about friends and AIDS. While the text is slight, it is set among superb pictures by Howard Sooley, a friend and fellow plantlover, who photographed the garden over a number of years. When Jarman bought the old fisherman's cottage, on a shale promentary within Howitzer distance of Dungeness B nuclear power station, he was attracted by it's bleakness. But gradually objects found on the beach became sculptures and beds of sea-washed brick and flint, and the flowers crept in. Ultimately the garden was awash with colour. This is an inspirational book, not only through the pictures of the extraordinary garden itself, but also those of Jarman. The fact that he faded as the garden took root is grimly poetic. To have created such a garden at all is an achievement, but to see Jarman gardening wearing a djellabe to protect himself from the light and the cold, with a hospital band on his wrist, is a tribute to human spirit and determination. (Warning: if you're planning to buy it for an elderly friend for the gardening, you should know that Jarman also tells us of his memories of fucking (his word) people on the floor of Heaven.) (Kirkus UK)
