2012.3.24 Kesen-cho

- Photography (Photography)

Naoya Hatakeyama

location: Iwate, Nihon
year born: 1958
gender: male
nationality: Japanese

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Throughout the series of sixty C-prints (five of which are included in the Kadist Art Foundation’s collection), Hatakeyama’s photographs depict scenes of torn landscapes and leveled homes, demolished villages and massive piles of detritus pummeled beyond recognition. The images serve as records of disaster, seemingly driven by an intense need to bear witness to collective trauma. Hatakeyama’s photographs, however, emerged from a painful and personal grief: the series focuses on the near-destruction of the artist’s hometown, an event which resulted in both his mother’s death and the deaths of many friends and neighbors. Rikuzentakata bears the ethical weight and responsibility of photojournalism even as its genesis comes out of a deeply felt loss and the ambiguity of survivor’s guilt. But for every desolate landscape on view in Rikuzentakata , Hatakeyama also offers glimpses of possible regeneration and hope: in 2013.10.20 Kesen-cho (2013), a forest of evergreen trees suggests the possibility for new growth amongst an overturned and muddied hillside, while a faint rainbow streaking across the sky in 2012.3.24 Kesen-cho (2013) offers a familiar but poetic gesture towards a better future. Hatakeyama suggests that what’s lost can never be fully recovered, but that with time, those wounds can slowly heal and life can begin again.


Naoya Hatakeyama is one of Japan’s leading contemporary photographers. His work frequently explores the relationship between natural and built environments, and he is particularly invested in examining how urbanization produces violent effects in surrounding landscapes. In 2012, Hatakeyama was the subject of a mid-career retrospective at SFMOMA titled Naoya Hatakeyama: Natural Stories, an exhibition of large-scale photographs centered around themes of nature, destruction, and human will. His photographs have been acquired by many international collections such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Osaka; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; the Swiss Foundation for Photography, Winterthur; la Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.


Colors:



Walking Through
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2009

Walking Through is one of a series of videos—sometimes humorous, often absurd—that record the artist’s performative interactions with objects in a particular site...

A poem written by 5 poets at once (first attempt)
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2013

This artwork was part of a group of projects presented in the Japanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013...

Edinburgh Castle on the Bin Bag
© » KADIST

Takahiro Iwasaki

2008

Edinburgh Castle on the Bin Bag features a model of the Edinburgh castle constructed by using shiny black cards placed on top of an open, full black plastic trash bag...

Process of Blowing Flour
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2010

Tanaka’s unique understanding of objects and materials is reflected in the four photographs that document his Process of Blowing Flour ...

Related works featuring themes of: » Japanese  
» see more

Japanese House Series
© » KADIST

Tomoko Yoneda

2010

Yoneda’s Japanese House (2010) series of photographs depicts buildings constructed in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation, between 1895 and 1945...

Walking Through
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2009

Walking Through is one of a series of videos—sometimes humorous, often absurd—that record the artist’s performative interactions with objects in a particular site...

Untitled (Family Project)
© » KADIST

Motoyuki Daifu

2010

Seven family members and a cat all squeezed into the small five-room house, where Motoyuki Daifu grew up in Yokohama...

A poem written by 5 poets at once (first attempt)
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2013

This artwork was part of a group of projects presented in the Japanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013...

Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

2011.5.1 Yonesaki-cho
© » KADIST

Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...

Japanese House Series
© » KADIST

Tomoko Yoneda

2010

Yoneda’s Japanese House (2010) series of photographs depicts buildings constructed in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation, between 1895 and 1945...

Walking Through
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2009

Walking Through is one of a series of videos—sometimes humorous, often absurd—that record the artist’s performative interactions with objects in a particular site...

Process of Blowing Flour
© » KADIST

Koki Tanaka

2010

Tanaka’s unique understanding of objects and materials is reflected in the four photographs that document his Process of Blowing Flour ...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

5 Artists on Our Radar This February
© » ARTSY

5 Artists on Our Radar in February 2024 | Artsy Skip to Main Content Advertisement Art 5 Artists on Our Radar in February 2024 Artsy Editorial Feb 5, 2024 8:50PM “Artists on Our Radar” is a monthly series focused on five artists who have our attention...

Future Gardens
© » AESTHETICA

Aesthetica Magazine - Future Gardens Future Gardens The US had the largest area of genetically modified crops worldwide in 2019, at 71.5 million hectares, followed by Brazil with a little over 52.8 million...

In View
© » KADIST

Randa Maddah

2017

Shot from the rooftop of her house in Majdal Shams, through a complex construction of moving mirrors, this video connects both sides of the border which has cut through Syrian Golan heights since the 1967 Six-Day war...

Unhealed
© » KADIST

Tenzing Rigdol

2019

Unhealed by Tenzing Rigdol is a photograph of the artist’s back tattooed with a map of Tibet with the dates of important political events...

Other works by: » Naoya Hatakeyama  
» see more

2011.5.1 Yonesaki-cho
© » KADIST

Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...

2013.10.20 Kesen-cho
© » KADIST

Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...

2012.11.4 Takata-cho
© » KADIST

Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...

2011.4.4 Kesen-cho
© » KADIST

Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

Powers Art Center to Open Andy Warhol Show with Works from The John and Kimiko Powers Collection - via The Aspen Times
© » LARRY'S LIST

The Powers Art Center in Carbondale will open an exhibit of Andy Warhol portraits and portfolios from the artist’s “Marilyn” and “Flowers” series....

Le Fou Postcolonial Insane
© » KADIST

Guy Woueté

2019

The video installation Le Fou Postcolonial Insane by Guy Woueté is a series of five videos that examine the concept of insanity in the post-colonial Democratic Republic of Congo...

Sea Painting, Dunwich, September
© » KADIST

Jessica Warboys

2013

The ongoing “Sea Paintings” series is central to the practice of Jessica Warboys...

Three Works by Rémy Héritier
© » KADIST

French choreographer and performance artist Rémy Héritier presents a trio of performances, following his visit last fall to a series of land art sites in the American West...