IN THE FACE OF SILENCE
Christophe Agou

Hardbound, 11" x 9½", 144 pages
Numerous color and black & white illustrations
2011, Dewi Lewis Publishing
Introduction by John Berger

From the Publisher:
In the Face of Silence is a powerful and moving portrait of the hard lives of French farmers living and working in the Forez region of France. Born and brought up in the area, photographer Christophe Agou travelled to the less-known parts of the region, where he felt inspired by the silence and moved by the people he encountered. Over time, and through the gradual process of building trust and friendship, the farmers and their families accepted him and allowed him to both photograph and film their daily existence. The challenge was to go beyond just documenting their labour intensive lives and present a deeper, more intimate portrait. The resultant work is a meditation on life and death as well as on the silence and solitude that are ever present in our lives Christophe Agou is noted for his personal documentary-style in both black-and-white and colour photography. His intimate images both haunt and intrigue – and create an intensely rich, layered, visual language.

Christophe Agou came to prominence with his compelling body of work made in the New York subway, published as Life Below in 2004. He was a finalist for the prestigious Eugene Smith Award (2006), for Le Prix de la Photographie de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2008) and received a "Mention Spéciale" for le Prix Kodak de la Critique Photographique (2009). His photographs have been widely published and exhibited including shows at MOMA, New York; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; Les Rencontres d'Arles, France; and Noorderlicht Fotofestival, The Netherlands.

John Berger, art critic, novelist, painter and author was the 1972 winner of the Booker Prize with his novel G. His book on art criticism Ways of Seeing is recognised as one of the seminal texts on the subject.