The photographs included in this exhibit reflect two main tenets. The first is a “sense of place.” The houses shown here have taken root in their surroundings. It may be because of the promontory view of the neighborhood that these homes share. Or the precise way they are situated within the landscape. Through style, line, and function, these homes seem to be a part of the land they occupy. The owners have created grounds to match the styles of the homes’ architectural design. Some landscaping is rigid and precise, some flows with the lines of the house. Occasionally, a sense of community arises when adjoining neighbors continue a look or feel from the yard next door into their own.

The second point is the concept of “nature on a leash,” which I remembered from a comment in a John Sayles movie, Sunshine State. Alan King (in his final film role) plays a land developer who, upon admiring the golf course that he and his associates have carved out of Florida’s wetlands, states, “What we have here is nature on a leash.” The photographs depict how we choose to design, plant, and build these personal spaces to represent everything in its own place. There is a feeling of safeness and timelessness. The home owners’ designs are sometimes so rigid that the arrangement of form becomes the main focus; the plants merely play a supporting role. I have found these yards to be a sublime refuge—a place where absolutes can apply in a temporal world. Some yards provide the structure of a formal garden space, while others derive their feel from a more natural configuration. Through the use of geometry, scale, pattern, and design, nature is disciplined by us imposing our will upon it.

The images here are of small- to medium-sized homes located throughout St. Louis City and St. Louis County, Missouri. They were photographed from late summer 2005 through early summer 2006. The selection of smaller-sized homes was made to heighten the visual connection of the architecture to the surrounding landscape.

This project originated from an idea that I have kicked around for years as I drove around the region, admiring the relationship of houses to their landscape and neighborhood. I strove to achieve a sense of stillness within each image—a quiet calmness that speaks to a personal relationship between the home and yard. The short-lived perfection of a newly mowed lawn and freshly cut hedge is held here in timeless order. Of course, like all human-made constructs, the larger order of nature will always succeed in bringing life back to its original design.

Ed Martin is a working artist-photographer and documentary filmmaker. He maintains an ongoing relationship with the landscape as subject matter in both bodies of work. He resides in St. Louis, Missouri.

Enter Slideshow »