Where The Silence Lives

“Where the Silence Lives” is a quiet journey through the rural and semi-urban corners of North West England, a place where silence is not the absence of sound but the presence of space.

This land, with its mists, its textures, and its slow, steady rhythms, became a temporary home for me and my family during a time of uncertainty. After being displaced by the war in Ukraine, we found ourselves living in the North West of England, learning to breathe again in a place that was never meant to be permanent yet held us with a kind of gentle patience. Though my family was not all together there, the silence in these photographs often carried the weight of absence, the quiet hope of reunion, and love stretched thin across borders.

The project was made while we lived in this landscape; it grew out of long walks, early mornings, and the simple act of paying attention to things that usually go unnoticed. And later, when we understood that we could no longer live in a state of waiting, we made the difficult decision to return to Ukraine for a while. That return added another layer to the work – a recognition that silence is not tied to geography. It travels with you. It changes shape. It becomes a place inside.

Created far from home, this series is also a reflection on silence itself – silence in old stone, in fog, in shadows falling across everyday objects. It is an attempt to see silence not as emptiness but as presence: of light, of memory, of fear and tenderness, of life that continues even when everything feels paused. These photographs speak of ordinary things where time, distance, loneliness, and love quietly dwell.

Captured in black and white, this ongoing work explores not only the outer landscapes but also the inner ones: foggy paths, ancient trees, quiet corners of villages, and moments suspended in stillness. Somewhere within that stillness lies the slow search for grounding and belonging.