The Problem Horse & Other Stories is a darkly poetic meditation on our relationship to horses and the natural world.
Julie Sleaford, a British based photographic artist, uses analogue processes in the darkroom, and through interventions with the print, to explore the emotional response to her memory of the horses and landscape she encounters.
The resulting self-published, hand bound book features a text-free flow of black & white photographs, including images of horses, the landscape, still life and performative photographs of the artist that contemplate the complexity of our relationship with another animal. The multiple fold-outs within the book accent how much remains hidden from us.
Book designer Emily Macaulay of Stanley James Press worked with Julie to design this publication. Emily loves making things out of paper that people will treasure, welcoming challenging projects that maker her consider how to make things differently. She also aims to produce books as sustainably as possible.
Each book is accompanied by a postcard with a beautiful poem by the poet Christina Thatcher printed in gold on the front.