Lily Hoyle reviews the photobook I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine by Pacifico Silano.

Pacifico Silano is an American photographer who, to create this book, took vintage images from LGBTQ+ archives, and gave them a new life. Silano tells the story of his uncle who lost his life to HIV complications and how this has affected him as a queer artist. 

On the inside of the cover, there is an extensive interview between Silano and writer José Diaz. In this interview he mentions the idea of using photographs of his uncle for the project since it has such personal roots, however, no such photographs existed. This lead Silano to begin gathering imagery within pornography and media representations that his uncle would’ve been surrounded by at the time, thus opening his experience to the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. This choice allows us to explore a wider narrative around LGBTQ+ history, how it is looked back on and how it affects us today. 

The twenty-two pages are printed on both sides, folded in an accordion style and when stretched out to their full length the book transforms into a timeline; where Silano guides you through many snapshots that make up a whole story. This space is open for gay people to take up and tell their stories unapologetically, which is a key aspect of Silano’s work. 

At the beginning, we are first greeted with a closed eye and then taken through a series of natural and domestic shots that each ooze with nostalgia and summer haze. The layout is broken up by vertical blocks of colour and negative space that make the portraits piercing. Whilst the book has a clear and cohesive style, contrasts between colour and greyscale, and masculinity and femininity, are made throughout. Silano layers images in a way that echoes a scrapbook, including paper folds and scrunched textures. These details all give an authenticity that makes you truly feel like your getting a personal insight into the lives lived on the pages. 

Each portrait stares directly into the camera and therefore makes eye contact with the viewer. This choice feels very distant from the impersonality of pornography and helps to connect the viewers to the subjects through space and time. Silano mentions that another important consideration of his was that, through this method, the models were able to reclaim agency back from within the page. I think that this agency is particularly important when working with old images since it shows Silano’s intentions and personal connection with their stories. 

Overall I Wish I'd Never Saw the Sunshine has inspired me to look for details within images of my work and explore the narratives they create. Silano has done this to deliver an authentic and aesthetic collection with this book and, I would recommend it to all. 

- Lily Hoyle