Photo: Library image – Terence Scott – Hawkinge Gazette —
A new book published on 4th April 2024 invites readers into the personal sanctuary of the iconic artist and filmmaker, the late Derek Jarman for the very first time, with 160 images by photographer Gilbert McCarragher.
Considered by some to be Jarman’s final and most complete work of art, Prospect Cottage is an emblematic self-portrait that sums up both the complex artist and politicized gay activist, as well as a creative, contemplative and brave human being.
While the gardens of Prospect Cottage in Dungeness are much visited and widely known, few people have seen inside Derek Jarman’s House.
Photo: Gilbert McCarragher
McCarragher’s book opens the door to Jarman’s unseen undisturbed home that encapsulates his vision of the world and compares the house to a camera; a dark interior with light coming in through various openings, at times seemingly measured and calculated by the filmmaker to reveal considered glimpses of the world outside.
If Jarman’s garden is key to his lively and life-affirming outside universe, the house provides a microcosm of his inner worldview.
After Derek Jarman’s death, Prospect Cottage passed to his companion Keith Collins, who changed little at the house: but introducing curtains to prevent visitors to the garden from peering in.
When Collins died suddenly in 2018, McCarragher, a friend and neighbour in Dungeness, was asked to record Jarman’s former home. This was the first time a photographer had so extensively documented the cottage, an artwork in its own right.
Organized room by room, McCarragher’s 160 photographs are accompanied by reflective essays that take the reader inside the cottage and reveal something of its history.
Photo: Gilbert McCarragher
Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House is a follow up to Thames & Hudson’s hugely popular book Derek Jarman’s Garden.
About the author Gilbert McCarragher is an artist and photographer based in London and Dungeness. His architectural photography is featured extensively in books and magazines such as El Croquis, Domus and John Pawson Plain Space (2010). As an artist, he works in multiple photographic mediums, and has exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art (London), Jerwood Space and the Wapping Project.
DEREK JARMAN’S HOUSE
Gilbert McCarragher
Foreword by Frances Borzello
THAMES & HUDSON | HARDBACK | PUBLICATION DATE 4th APRIL 2024 | £25