Close to the Hedge

Close to the Hedge:
An exploration of hedges in photography

The irresistible allure of hedges, topiary, shrubs and planted boundaries
26 April – 05 May 2024
Privet View, 25 April, 6pm–9pm

SHOP FOR LIMITED-EDITION PRINTS HERE

'This one's like a castle' – read all about the exhibition in the Guardian HERE.

Mystery of the hedge – Country LIfe's feature on the exhibition. Read HERE.

Gareth Gardner Gallery 
Enclave10,
50 Resolution Way,
Deptford SE8 4AL
www.garethgardner.gallery 

OPENING HOURS:
26/27/28 April, 03/04/05 May, 2pm–6pm
Other times by appointment
FREE ENTRY
Check back here and on instagram @garethgardner_gallery for any additional opening dates/times.

Why do hedges hold a fascination for landscape, urban and architectural photographers? This is the question posed by Close to the Hedge, an exhibition at the Gareth Gardner Gallery in Deptford, which opens on 25 April.



An open call for photographs that take hedges as their theme drew submissions from around the world. A selection will be exhibited at the gallery, which is the UK's only space dedicated solely to photography of architecture and the altered landscape.

‘I was flabbergasted by the enormous response,’ comments Gareth Gardner, an architectural photographer and hedge fancier who is curating the show. ’It appears to be the secret obsession of a surprisingly large number of photographers. I thought I was the only one raising eyebrows by pointing my camera at hedges.’

Gardner explains that hedges highlight boundaries, reveal demarcation disputes and divisions, provide visual privacy, conceal the world outside and hide mysteries within.

Photographs of planted boundaries can represent the tastes and aspirations of suburbia, transport us back to a time pre-Enclosure Acts or communicate environmental issues. 

‘From the titillation of suburban pampas grass to the triumph over nature of rectilinear laurel hedges, from plastic plants to dead privets, we have received photographs that tell a multitude of stories about modern life, society and culture, and our relationship with nature,’ he says.



Prints by 31 photographers will be display, as well as a digital presentation of additional images, accompanied by music from analogue modular synth artist Twilight Sequence.

There are three main exhibition themes:
Privet lives Hedges as boundaries and privacy screens in suburbia and cities.
Subtopiary Humankind’s domination of nature, expressed through ornamental shrubs and trees.
Hedgelands Hedges and planted boundaries in liminal and rural zones.