Shinjuku Nikon Salon is currently hosting two photo exhibitions offering viewers an opportunity first to delve deep into the living world through the lens of Kusamushi Afuba and then to take a wider view courtesy of Hidetoshi Hamada.
Untitled landscape Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture, 2001, by Hidetoshi Hamada
Part of a moth's wing, titled "Inyo" (Light and Shadow)" (2000) by Kusamushi AfubaThough his show is titled "Biomaterial," Afuba isn't focusing on advances such as cloning, gene therapy and spare-part surgery. But as he explains in the catalog, developments like these made him reconsider the nature of life itself and prompted him to take a closer look at the body and its parts.
On show here are 24 of his color photographs, revealing the inner and outer features of various insects and amphibians, including moths, spiders, caterpillars and frogs.
Hamada, meanwhile, in his display titled "Outland," explores the meaning of life through the scenery he encounters on his frequent travels around Japan. As he sees it, landscapes are not simply views of nature but have powerful atmospheres -- for example, wind can convey a sense of solitude, while a desolate stretch of land can draw out feelings of alienation and terror.
Hamada said that in capturing the 25 black-and-white landscape photographs on display here, he was able to confront the solitude and conflict he felt within himself.
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