Ian Howorth: A Country Kind of Silence

Ian Howorth: A Country Kind of Silence by Joe CuccioJanuary 31, 2024

This week we feature projects that explore the psychological landscape.

Sometimes the psychological landscape is something that is formulated in the artist’s mind from an early age. Adolescence and the struggles we all feel to fit in can be a driving factor in how we engage with the world photographically. That is the case for the work of Ian Howorth in his monograph A Country Kind of Silence. Through this body of work, Howorth unpacks his feelings surrounding his sense of identity and belonging. Born in Peru, where his mother had originated from, he had engaged in a nomadic lifestyle from a young age. Howorth moved across three countries and inhabited nine different homes during this period. Throughout this time of rapid change and shifting from one home to another, he would visit England, the birthplace of his father. Eventually, at the ripe age of 16, he settled in Brighton, UK the place he has called home ever since. There had always been confusion surrounding the idea of what being English was to Howorth. This idea is something often misunderstood by many and his work seeks to highlight this indistinction.

Howorth explores his adopted home with the feeling of unease and uncertainty hidden just below the surface of his images. His heart is rooted in another place outside of Brighton, but for so long this is the place he has lived. There is a constant sense of change that appears in the images and Howorth feels that this is indicative of his adjustments as time has continued. He is not afraid of engaging with the quotidian details and even cultural troupes to latch on to his evolving sense of identity. He focuses on the urban landscape he has found himself living in and watching as it transitions through time.

Howorth has created a series of still and calm-natured images that aim to hold onto what seemingly will become a relic of the past soon enough. His visual language is palpable and digestible as it is reminiscent of the masters of the color from the 1970s-1980s. The names of Eggleston and Shore are at the front of the viewer’s mind as they glare at his ability to engage with the mundane in a way that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. What Howorth does calls backs to the greats, but holds onto his personal relationship with identity to add a key layer to his engagement with the space around him. As he has shifted through life he has continued to struggle with a sense of uncertainty felt through change and his quest for a settled identity. It is fitting that he deploys a visual language akin to the color masters of yesterday, as he continues to hold onto objects that will become things of the past in no time at all.

Howorth does an masterful job of bringing a multi-layered concept into his engagement with space and the mundane. The driving force in his minds that things will all inevitably change and his identity is shifting allows for this wonderful collection of images to speak profoundly.

Ian Howorth is a Peruvian/British photographer based in Brighton, England. His work deals with themes of identity, place and time.

His second monograph “A Country Kind of Silence” was published by Setanta Books in 2023

©Ian Howorth, Book Cover for A Country Kind of Silence, published by Setanta Books

I see A Country Kind of Silence as a completion of a cycle – it all started with ARCADIA in 2019 (Reprinted in 2023) which dealt with my personal sense of self, and the complexities surrounding my sense of identity. I’ve always been fascinated by the attachment we have to things and the materials we build around us – many of these things have huge effects on who we are, not just individually but as a collective culture. A Country Kind of Silence takes this from the personal to the collective – its less about me and more about ‘it’ – can a place be defined by what we leave behind on the landscape? I feel many of the answers are hidden away in the things we ignore or take for granted – little things that are dotted around that don’t shout about it, but are communicating a lot. – Ian Howorth

Author Info:

Joe Cuccio is an image maker based in Rochester, NY. His images respond to a variety of arresting moments and harness the movement that occurs as life forges on. Inspiration for him arrives from chaotic and serene emotional experiences. Creating images is his way of highlighting humanity’s fleeting existence. He is an MFA candidate at Rochester Institute of Technology pursuing a degree in Photography and Related Media. His work has been exhibited at Memorial Art Gallery and Soho Photo Gallery. He has also contributed written pieces for Museé Magazine and Float Magazine.

Instagram:@joecucciophotos

Tags: Ian Howorth, Place