Imagine that abortion is illegal, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Imagine that there is a pregnancy, which is doomed to end in tragedy.

Imagine that there is nothing you can do.

Nothing you can do, but carry the weight and wait.

'It Starts With Silence' addresses subject matter, which many consider taboo, it forms a photographic narrative around the illegality of abortion and how that law affected the artist as a man, a husband, and a father.

Employing photography and text, Richard Gosnold powerfully communicates the complexities of his emotions. He reflects upon his sense of place, within the political and physical landscape of Northern Ireland, a place to which, his wife was desperate to return. A place, where politicians remain fanatical in their desire to control the bodies of pregnant people.

This is a work of protest, which is inspired by personal conversations. Conversations held in small rooms, behind closed doors. Conversations, which help to inform policymakers who have the power to change laws.

It is a sorrowful lament, a work of love for all who are troubled with crisis pregnancies. A message of hope and solidarity for all whose voices are lost among the chaos of political discourse. Set in a small country in the North of Ireland, this story remains politically relevant and resonates around the world.

It Starts With Silence  was shortlisted for the Unseen Dummy Award in 2019.

More information about the book can be found here.

Publisher Kehrer Verlag

Texts by Richard Gosnold

Designed by Richard Gosnold and Loreen Lampe

Hardcover, 16.5 x 22cm

142 pages plus gatefold

82 colour and b/w images

Galaxi Art Supermat (FSC) 150 & 90gsm 

ISBN 978-3-96900-022-9