A Country Kind of Silence by Ian Howorth (2023)
Specifications
- Hardcover with dust jacket
- Essay by Harry Gallon
- 240 x280 mm
- 156pages
- 85 images
About the Prints
- Each print is in an edition of 25 numbered and stamped copies
- Signed byIan Howorth on verso
- Printedon Hahnemhle Pearl paper
- 22 x 27 cm
- 0.5 cm white border
Artist Statement
A Country Kind of Silence continues my internal exploration of feelings surrounding my sense of identity. A sense that belonging isnt as unattainable as it is hard to grasp. I still hesitate when anyone asks me where Im from, no doubt a question owing to my unusual accent. England has been my adoptive home for some time now, 26 years to be exact. However, moving from where my heart is rooted has had a profound effect on me. Feelings of unease and uncertainty have always been with me and many of these are tied to the constant changes I see in my surroundings; these developments have often mirrored a change in myself as times gone by.
I wanted A Country Kind of Silence to be a response to this change of perception and my personal sense of self. I want to celebrate this transitional period with images that show a quiet calm, a moment of silence capturing various tropes of the past before they are lost and forgotten. I associate these visual cues with my adopted sense of identity I am always in search of cultural symbols to anchor my identity to.
I often think of my relationship to the images I shot, both the ones that were selected andthe ones that were not, and how they each help me understand the place Im in. The pinkand blue hues just off a Kent high street and the faded-peach tones of a Brightonianhairdressers say so much about who we were and how we did things but also where weare now and where we are headed. Hand-stenciled signage in Great Yarmouth roused meto capture that image signs like this are representations of a time and a place andeverything in between, reminders that these sites once thrived. We pass them often sometimes daily and pay them little attention, except when their dilapidation stands instark contrast to the new.
For me, these relics chronicle my own understanding of place they have become a sortof roadmap to understand who I am, where I am and what my surroundings mean. I amforever assessing change, updating my knowledge to reinforce my sense of belonging. The urban landscape is borne entirely from our creation and it tells us so much We plan and build, reap and destroy and repeat the process as we pass through. Its easy to forget that many of these things still bear the influence of the past – telling us much about ourselves while stuck in time, surviving, struggling and sometimes just about existing.
– Ian Howorth
Related Links
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