Strings, Japanese Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden
Maker
Fritz, Dana
American, b. 1970
Date2002
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensionsimage: 10 in x 10 in; paper: 11 in x 14 in
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2005:96
Collections
About the ArtistDana Fritz’s ongoing project Garden Views: the Culture of Nature includes more than 80 prints from the diverse gardens of the United States, England, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan. The beauty of these carefully maintained spaces concerns Fritz less than what that careful maintenance reveals about the cultures these gardens can be found in. To that end, her square gelatin-silver prints emphasize structure: examining the braces, binding, stakes, and wires used to control the flora, or else depicting the mowed, trimmed, and sheared aftermath of such efforts. These gardens evidence a world-wide desire not to protect nature so much as perfect it, improve on it at least, though just what that means varies from society to society. - On Chicago
Dana Fritz was born in 1970 in Kansas City, Missouri. She received a BFA in Photography/Video from Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri (1992) and an MFA in Intermedia from Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona (1995). Her work is included in the collections of Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona; Bibliothéque Nationale de France, Paris, France; Center for Photography at Woodstock, New Paltz, New York; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; and Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska. Fritz is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art in the School of Art, Art History and Design at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
![In Florence’s last months, when she could no longer go out to the Botanic Garden for dinner, our dear friends Josh and Signe Murphy and their daughters India and June came over with all the necessary provender and utensils, and cooked complete meals for us three or four times. When Florence died I solved some of the problem of what to do with her clothes by giving a bunch to 15 year old India. India adored Florence - and was thrilled to inherit her favorite skirt and sport jacket. [...]](/internal/media/dispatcher/4591/thumbnail)
