Biography
Ian Borthwick
Paris – France
A native of majestic New Zealand and a resident of Paris for nearly half a century, Ian Borthwick is an award-winning and extraordinarily versatile figure in the world of writing and photography. It is no coincidence that these two fascinating polar opposites – the primal beauty of his homeland and the eternal allure of the French capital – are the lifeblood of his distinctive artistic vision. Raised in Christchurch, amidst the spectacular landscape of the South Island, Ian honed his mind with a BA and MA in French from the University of Auckland. Driven by an insatiable thirst for exploration, he embarked on an epic overland odyssey to Europe after school. Armed with only a camera and a backpack, he walked, hitchhiked and rode third-class trains across Asia, taking six months to reach his final destination: Paris. That initiatory journey proved to be a pivotal event, instilling in him an incurable taste for discovery and the imperative to share these experiences through images and the written word. In Paris, combining his passions for languages, travel and rugby, he became a pioneer of bilingual journalism and the first interpreter and media manager for the French national rugby team. For over thirty years, he was considered the most authoritative and widely read journalist in the world of rugby, collaborating with leading publications such as L’Équipe, Le Monde, Libération, Midi-Olympique in France, and The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Independent internationally. In 2012, after 15 years as a “grand reporter” for L’Équipe, Ian chose to leave daily journalism. Today, while he continues to provide occasional consultancy for the French and New Zealand media, he has devoted his creative energies entirely to photography. He hit the headlines in New Zealand in 2024 with his acclaimed exhibition “Paris Silenced”: a series of artistic and deeply evocative images of a glittering Paris, reduced to a ghost town during the Covid lockdown. Through his lens, Ian Borthwick not only documents but transforms reality, revealing beauty and emotional resonance even in the most unusual and challenging moments.
The Project
Antipodes - Echoes from the Edge of the Earth
“Antipodes” is a project that goes far beyond landscape photography; it is a visceral and deeply personal exploration of the geographical and emotional coordinates that have shaped Ian Borthwick’s life and artistic vision. The title itself evokes the photographer’s place of origin – New Zealand and Australia – and reflects the opposite and complementary poles that influence his existence. There is no place on Earth more distant from his homeland than France or Northern Italy, distances that, in strictly geographical terms, are surprisingly close to the antipodes. Dig a hole in Milan, for example, and at the other end you will emerge in Waitangi, on the remote Chatham Islands, off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. This selection of six images not only represents Ian’s initiatory journey from New Zealand to France and the many years he spent in Paris, but also reveals an unexpected and deeply felt connection with Italy. An integral part of his passion for landscape photography is the spiritual sense of awe and majesty he feels when alone in these remote places, often before dawn, in an almost sacred silence. In this context, the two “Cityscape” images of Paris, his adopted city, are treated with the same reverence as more classic “landscape” images, since even in the heart of the metropolis one can perceive the same mystical sense of beauty that one feels in the mountains of New Zealand or the imposing peaks of Italy. The project is structured through pairs of images that dialogue with each other. Two shots celebrate the wild and unspoiled beauty of the New Zealand landscape: the enigmatic Lake Matheson on the “Far West” coast of the South Island and Wanaka, with its now iconic lone tree emerging from the water. In contrast, the two Parisian images show familiar, almost archetypal scenes of the great capital, but captured in a moment of surreal silence, completely devoid of human presence. Finally, an even deeper emotion surrounds the two photographs of the Dolomites in Northern Italy, Santa Maddalena and Alpe di Siusi. Ian Borthwick makes a strong case that Trentino-Alto Adige is easily as spectacular as New Zealand, if not more so, and challenges anyone who has visited the Dolomites to still claim that New Zealand is “the most beautiful country in the world”. The inclusion of these images also has an intimate and poignant reason: during the Second World War, his father spent several years as a prisoner of war near Udine, after being captured in Libya. Conditions in Camp 57 were harsh. By including these photographs, Ian Borthwick wishes to honor his memory and the sacrifice of those years, made by a man who came from the antipodes, from the furthest edges of the Earth, to help defeat fascism in Europe. “Antipodi” is, therefore, a visual meditation on the concept of home, distance and connection, a tribute to the majesty of the planet and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of history and beauty.
More photos by
Ian Borthwick
See more photographers Visio Mentis - 2-9 August 2025
Międzynarodowa wystawa, która dała wyraz emocjom. Cieszę się, że mogłem być jej częścią i mam nadzieję, że będę mógł współpracować z wami ponownie w przyszłości.
sono rimasta entusiasta dell’esposizione presso l’Ex Stac di Catanzaro. Devo dire che la disposizione delle foto e la location sono veramente notevoli. E io ho scoperto molti fotografi che fanno cose molto interessanti. Mi dispiace per chi se la perde per ignoranza e senso di superiorità. Grazie a te per tutto l’impegno che ci metti
Ich habe die Einweihung live auf Facebook verfolgt: Es war fantastisch! Ich hoffe wirklich, bei den nächsten Pixel Photo Magazine-Events dabei sein zu können.
The exhibition was very diverse – there were emotional portraits, the beauty of nature, architecture and animals, street photography and abstraction. The seriousness of the situation is given by the fact that the exhibition was opened by the
theoretician of art, Prof. Vittorio Politano, photographer Vincenzo Caroleo and the organizer, curator of the exhibition and photographer Marcello Pitardi. Thank you for the warm welcome, new acquaintances and a beautiful journey through the
world of international photography.
Many thanks to the organizers of the exhibition. Everything was done at the highest level. Special thanks for the work done by Marcello Petardi. It was a great honor to participate in this celebration of photography
Aver avuto la possibilità di confrontarmi con artisti di caratura internazionale è stato uno dei momenti più significatativi della mia esperienza fotografica. La mostra dal respiro internazionale, ha raccolto le opere di 27 artisti Italiani ed esteri portando nello spazio espositivo di Palazzo ex-Stac un caleidoscopio di emozioni. Quello che mi ha colpito profondamente è stato il livello veramente alto delle opre in mostra. Ciascun artista ha sicuramente onorato la propria presenza e Marcello è stato impeccabile nell’organizzazione. Mi auguro che mostre di questo livello possano essere sempre più frequenti e che il pubblico possa apprezzarle sempre di più.
Ho accettato con grande entusiasmo l’invito a partecipare alla mostra VISIO MENTIS a Catanzaro, che rappresenta la mia prima esperienza in una mostra collettiva. Ho avuto il piacere di conoscere il curatore, Marcello Pitardi, grazie alla pagina Pixel Photo Magazine, e abbiamo instaurato un ottimo rapporto. Marcello è una persona precisa e pragmatica, che lavora con efficacia e determinazione. Inizialmente, temevo che la distanza da Bruxelles e i miei impegni lavorativi avrebbero reso difficile la mia partecipazione, ma tutto si è svolto senza problemi. Purtroppo, non ho potuto essere presente all’evento a causa della distanza e degli impegni, ma sono felice di sapere che la mostra ha avuto un ottimo successo e che le mie foto hanno potuto essere viste da decine di persone, condividendo con loro la mia visione della fotografia.
The exhibition in March 2025 at Ex Stac in Catanzaro, which was the part of the Visio Mentis project, was an amazing event for me. The whole organizing team did a wonderful professional job in promoting photography as an art and photographers as the personalities. Seeing my own photos exhibited in the beautiful setting and having the opportunity to share my thoughts with other colleagues photographers and the audience was an unforgettable experience for me that I still enjoy for a long time after the exhibition is over. I am proud to have been a part of this project and at the same time it is an inspiration for me to continue searching for my own vizio mentis. Thank you very much for your support.