MATSUNAGA Manabu | Vol. 3 Derek Jarman's Garden

MATSUNAGA Manabu
Vol. 3 Derek Jarman's Garden

A Garden Where Cosmic Vibrations Stir the Air

This installment focuses on the garden of Derek Jarman (born 1942–died 1994). Jarman was a British filmmaker, stage designer, and writer from Middlesex. This garden stands solitary on a vast plain in the village of Dungeness in southern England. It is a garden created and inhabited by the late filmmaker.

Photos and text by Manabu Matsunaga

A small house sits along a narrow road facing the coast. As you approach, the air seems to vibrate, carrying a faint warmth. The desolate nuclear power plant is visible in the distance. For some reason, signs reading “Half Pork” and “Fresh Fish” are scattered across this vast, deserted landscape—a surreal location. A different world… the words come to mind.

Whether by chance or design, in 1986, the year of the Chernobyl accident, he acquired Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, southern England, not far from the nuclear plant. He continued to write notes about the garden until his death in 1994. When Derek Jarman appeared at the 1993 Venice Biennale with his film *Blue*, he was emaciated and frail, ravaged by AIDS. I vividly recall the shock of the audience at the premiere, faced with an entirely blue screen.

In his later years, upon visiting Claude Monet's garden in Giverny, France, Derek Jarman remarked, "What a contrast. Compared to my Dungeness desert..."

Even without fences, low-lying plants, firmly rooted in the desert-like landscape, stretch out eternally, exposed to rain and wind. It is as if nature itself created them. The entire space becomes one, radiating a powerful energy. Time loses its meaning, and one is often captivated. This might be a garden very close to heaven. What was Derek Jarman seeking in this garden?