A Country Kind of Silence
Ian Howorth is a UK-based photographer who was born in Peru. Before settling in Brighton, The UK, Ian had an experience of living in several countries. The change in locations, environment, and places of residence, eventually brought Ian to question the concept of 'home' and the impact this understanding has on shaping the person’s identity. With his new monograph, A Country Kind of Silence,
published by Setanta Books, Ian researches the visual perspective of England, the physical places and landscapes in connection to time, from the angle of an individual not native to this country. Ian explains, “I think not being native to a place allows you to see it slightly differently, almost as if it's contrasting against something else rather than just being looked at singularly.”
The attempt is to understand what constructs the identity based on surroundings, picturesque places, well-known local urban views, as well as cultural cues and symbols. The sense of belonging arises as the central question in the book, which leads to a desire to gather meaning through juxtaposition with the sense of time and the feeling of a place. Careful work with light, the sequencing of images, and the narrative that takes a viewer to experience the indoor and outdoor world indicate the presence of time that passes as clouds move slowly in the sky, or life events proceed naturally changing one another, or people, technology, furniture and houses age with time.
In this interview, we speak with Ian about his approach to the importance of the visual trigger and the concept of belonging. We discuss the work on the layout of the photo book in close connection to the journey through the country to discover England and the attempt to present Britishness to unveil the concept through Ian’s eyes and feelings.
Publication Details
Hardcover with dust jacket
Essay by Harry Gallon
240 x 280 mm
156 pages
85 images
Published by Setanta Books
Text by Harry Gallon
Design by Tom Booth Woodger and Ben Greehy
Printed by MAS, Matbaa Istanbul
Special Thank to Sofia Krysiak
Get your copy at www.setantabooks.com
‘I think not being native to a place allows you to see it slightly differently, almost as if it's contrasting against something else rather than just being looked at singularly.’
Personal Experience
Hi Ian, first of all, congratulations on publishing your monograph, A Country Kind of Silence, with Setanta Books! I’d like to start our conversation by speaking about your experience as a Peruvian English artist through the prism of belonging and the unique perspective of an insider/outsider on the country you depict with the book. What do you think your background allows you to see differently and add additional layers when creating images?
Thank you very much! I think not being native to a place allows you to see it slightly differently, almost as if it's contrasting against something else rather than just being looked at singularly. Although these feelings somewhat diminish over time, they remain quite powerful, and the sense of wonder still remains. For me, it's always begun with the visual aspect of things — why are things just so? Nostalgia in itself isn't enough to describe it — it feels too simplistic.
‘It was important for me to understand that I could never accurately represent Britain in a general sense — it was always going to be a personal account of how I see things.’
The Voyage in Time
While composing the narrative, the attention is brought to the storyline and the questions as to whether it should be linear or present a back-and-forth journey in time to create the most impactful version of the events and emotions. When you work on building the sequence for the book, what is your methodology for selecting the images that drive the narrative and deselecting those that will not find their place in the book?
It was important for me to understand that I could never accurately represent Britain in a general sense — it was always going to be a personal account of how I see things, from the tropes that support traditional ideas to how I see them change. The one idea that is true is that everything in the book happened in England, so from that point of view, it is an accurate representation of a place in time. So ultimately, the sequencing came down to the experiential — almost as if looking through the images is a journey that takes you inside and outside places, with chance encounters with people who help shape the idea of England.
‘I obsess over trying to make sure emotions and feelings can be supported through texture and design to keep the viewer in the world I've attempted to create.’
Nostalgia and Identity
The main themes that emerge are nostalgia and identity. While nostalgia deals with past occurrences and the meaning events and places hold, identity has to do with individuals and their belonging to the community, the mutual identity. Harry Gallon, in his text for A Country Kind of Silence, writes, “the role of place becomes captivating to an artist whose relationship with identity, belonging and locating in Britain a home is both fluid and tumultuous.” How do you define Britishness, and what did you discover about mutual identity through the work of this book?
Harry's words in the book are beautiful — I think they hit the nail on the head and really opened my eyes a lot about the nature of identity and place. Britishness is hard to define — on the one hand, you have Union Jacks and red telephone boxes, but you also have a multicultural and diverse society and the enrichment which that brings. It's changing and evolving all the time, some things die out, and others begin to flourish as new influences mix with the old.
Connecting The Dots
Let’s discuss the experience of working on the design for the book, choosing the paper, and working on print. What was important for you in the translation of your journey and experience to the physical realm of the printed edition collaborating with Setanta Books?
I've found the creation of photobooks to be an art form itself. As soon as you commit images to print in an understood format like a book, you are making the work more experiential, so every choice has to be a representation of the work — everything from colour to textures, typeface, and design. I like the idea that every choice we have made supports the feelings I get from the work as a whole. I obsess over trying to make sure emotions and feelings can be supported through texture and design to keep the viewer in the world I've attempted to create. If it’s jarring or too on the nose, then the experience is compromised. Ultimately we want everyone to have their own experience; for example, we put Harry’s text at the end — as a way to give context as we saw it, but without leading the viewer to a false experience which putting the essay at the start may have done.
Next Steps
What are you currently working on, and which theme would you like to research next?
A Country Kind Of Silence had been pretty much finished for some time, with some additions coming late last year as a way to fill gaps as the sequence came together. This has allowed me to concentrate on the next project, which started coming together around October 2021 and for which I began shooting in May 2022. I can’t say too much, but I can say it is a story based in mainland Europe dealing with environmental and humanitarian themes. I'm quite excited about it.
