Kjetil Karlsen’s debut monograph, Watching the Silence, invites readers to venture into northern Norway’s isolated and remote landscapes, seen through the author’s singular lens. Here, Karlsen’s life experiences are distilled into a world that is familiar yet, intriguingly, otherworldly. The book showcases nearly 90 black and white plates, divided into six chapters, and printed in dark, rich, and cold tones that capture the beauty and extremes of the distinct elements of the far north.

Karlsen’s photographs serve as gateways to mythological and psychological themes, unveiling the profound connection between the body, soul, and nature. As Arno Rafael Minkkinen, the renowned photographer whose expansive foreword opens the book, eloquently describes, Watching the Silence is “a kind of unguided tour by ghosts, one-legged wanderers, and soulless strangers performing their gravity-defying stunts, tender couplings, and displaying their psychic energies in an enigmatically desolate yet hardly unwelcoming landscape.”

Watching the Silence is an extraordinary debut. It is a captivating, exquisitely curated collection of Karlsen’s finest works, hardbound in cloth. It offers a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the beauty and extremes of the natural and supernatural worlds that promises to leave a lasting impression on the reader.

KJETIL KARLSEN is a photographer from northern Norway who captures the essence of nature’s influence on human emotions and the collective human experience. He employs a diverse range of analog and digital photographic techniques and emphasizes authenticity by using natural illumination to capture his subjects. Karlsen draws inspiration from the profound well of human emotions and explores themes of vulnerability and the inherent connection between individuals and their natural surroundings. His work has been exhibited in galleries across Norway and France, and he has also contributed cover art and produced music videos for artists worldwide. Watching the Silence is Karlsen’s first book.