Landscape Erosion – Cherry blossoms in Setagaya 3

Born and raised in a residential area on the outskirts of Tokyo, my original landscape was during a period of high economic growth. The surrounding environment developed rapidly and changed to a uniform one. The nature and blank scenery that once existed were no longer visible, and I felt like they were drifting like an afterimage that had been stripped off. I think the reason I became interested in the “invisibility” contained in the landscape was because I had such an original experience.

How can “invisibility” be read from the landscape? I visited various places in search of that hint. In the area around the hard-to-return area of Fukushima, I saw everyday scenes that no one could see were covered by flourishing plants and trees, and buried. In a place that used to be blocked by a wall in Berlin, I met people enjoying picnics instead of the wall that was there. At the concentration camp site, I traced the gaze that someone might have seen from here in the past, and looked at the trees and fresh greenery. What came and went into me through these scenes was a “view of impermanence.” Similar to past events that have been forgotten, everyday life that unfolds before our eyes will eventually become invisible as time passes. How can we imagine the history of existence in a place where there are no traces or clues, and the overlapping of time events?

“Scenery of Erosion” is a series in which landscape photographs are printed on aluminum, a part of it is scraped off, and polished to a mirror surface. The exposed aluminum that has appeared is a void that erodes and blocks the image. At the same time, what is reflected and projected there is the present world and our own appearance.

Production of the “Scenery of Erosion” series began and was announced during a stay in Berlin in 2019. Installation was completed in order to present part of it at a solo exhibition at void+ (Tokyo) in 2020. Just after that, the Japanese government declared a state of emergency following requests from Tokyo and the three prefectures in the metropolitan area to refrain from going out due to the effects of the novel coronavirus infection. The start of the exhibited works was postponed several times without being presented. In my spare time, I thought about making a new work reflecting this situation. It was just when cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Tokyo. I visited a place famous for cherry blossoms, but there were no cherry blossom viewers. What seems to be missing in the work is the scenery from that time.

*Weight 2.7 kg

*The thickness of the aluminum surface is 3 mm, and the panel is fixed to the back side to the wood. A space of about 20 mm can be created from the wall during installation. The back side has holes for screws and nails during installation.

*The surface is urethane coated to prevent rust.