Dominion over every creeping thing
LOCATION: Kenninghall Open SpaceSTARTED: 14 april 2024
ONGOING
When I started this series of photographs the bench was the principle subject. But soon that changed, and the evidence of human activity - the cans, bottles, grafitti, coats - came into focus, and the absent people who had sat on the bench also became subjects. Over the longer term, I recognised also that it was the plants, and their relentless resistance to human dominion, who perhaps were the principle protagonists.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." — Genesis 1:26 (King James Version)
scroll right -->
14/APRIL/2024
Park bench. Two metal slats for the back rest. Thick wooden beams for the seat. Right arm rest missing. Stinging nettles surround the left leg. Three 'PUTAS' tags; one on the top slat; two on the bottom slat. An empty can and cigarette packet on the floor.
04/MAY/2024
Behind the bench the ground has been cleared. A thick wall of nettles remains 6 foot back ready to advance. The nettles around the left leg are still there. A single growth of cow parsley remains on the right.
28/JULY/2024
The nettles are back; grown taller than the bench around the left arm. Cow parsley gone. A Metro has been discarded on the floor with the visible headline 'YES SHE CAN'.
10/AUGUST/2024
Nettles a little yellowed. Food wrappings built up under the bench; drink cans and cartons. White paper pages strewn to the right.
21/SEPTEMBER/2024
The nettles look refreshed. The same litter is visible. Some gone. Some covered by new growth.
09/NOVEMBER/2024
A black puffer jacket has been discarded on the bench; twisted and touching the floor. The nettles are resurgent; the left side of the bench is consumed. Fallen autumn leaves on the ground.
17/NOVEMBER/2024
An empty bottle of fizzy orange left on the bench. Fresh cigarette packets on the floor.
17/NOVEMBER/2024
Stepping back, only a handful of yellow leaves remain on the branches of the trees. The nettles are still luxuriously green.
14/DECEMBER/2024
The old litter has been removed. The floor is clearer. A new coke bottle lies under the bench and a plastic bag rests on the nettles behind.
11/JANUARY/2025
Frost. The seat of the bench is white. The nettles are covered in frost and have collapsed. Two more PUTAS tags have been added - vertically this time. One on the front of each leg. Both prefixed with heart symbols. One of them suffixed with a '1'. Dappled sunlight and shadow covers the scene and the winter sky is blue.
11/JANUARY/2025
Side view revealling a bit more of the bench's location.
02/MARCH/2025
Same rubbish. The stick that first appeared in January is still in the same place on the ground. New growth can be seen emerging from the dry brush.
15/MARCH/2025
Same rubbish. Same stick. Slightly more New growth.
05/APRIL/2025
For the first time, there is a visible borderline between the asphalt path and the plants. The ground is completely free of litter. Behind the borderline, light green is replacing straw. The sun is shining.
19/APRIL/2025
The neat borderline more or less remains. Behind the bench the leaves are abundant forming a luscious green mass. The floor around the bench is still tidy bar a single paper coffee cup. And a thick stick has appeared; such as you might throw for a dog. A small bunch of nettles has formed at the base of the right leg.
25/MAY/2025
White flowers in the trees and on the cow parsley. The nettles are reclaiming the right side of the bench. Minimal litter; a single small drink carton off to the side.
15/JUNE/2025
Flowers all gone. The nettles have been ruthlessly mown down to the ground. Short dry straw is all that remains. There is half a brick and a stone under the bench and a few cigarette stubs.
26/JULY/2025
The nettles have made a quick recovery and regained the right leg. Cigarette butts and pistachio shells on the floor.
21/SEPTEMBER/2025
Two months later. Even more pistachio shells.
26/OCTOBER/2025
An abandoned sofa, overturned, in front of the bench. Base ripped. A new tag has been added; looks like it says Demps.
11/JANUARY/2026
The sofa has been moved. The nettles have been cleared revealing a lot of bottles and cans. Pistachio nuts are still popular; or maybe these are the same old shells.
11/JANUARY/2026
The bench viewed from further back. The sofa moved away under a bush.
08/FEBRUARY/2026
Black plastic material placed on the bench, perhaps to shield from the wet seat. A different distribution of pistachio shells over the floor would suggest they are still being eaten here.
05/MARCH/2026
Night. A black stick, like a wand, on the floor in front of the bench.
18/APRIL/2026
Nettles growing back. Empty packet of biscuits.
25/APRIL/2026
White flowers on the trees. Cow parsley in the back.
23/MAY/2026
Not much change since a month ago. Is that a new plant growing on the right side of the bench? Seed shells on the floor rather than pistachio shells.
21/JUN/2026
The new plant on the right side of the bench has flowered. A flat screen TV has appeared on the left.
04/JUL/2026
The nettles are back in force. A small green bottle of lemon drink has been left on the bench. The flat screen is still there but more overgrown by the nettles.
15/AUG/2026
The park has had a severe cutback all over. The ground around the bench is unusually clear. There were two men from Enfield parks team litter picking when I arrived.