Statement

Elephant in the room

This work is an attempt to visually represent a world that has changed from what it was before, using infrared photography in Fukushima, which was affected by the nuclear power plant accident.

The red-tinted plants are not a visualization of radioactive materials.

I have felt this strongly while regularly going to the affected areas in Fukushima since the disaster occurred. I myself gradually became accustomed to seeing the clumps of black flexible container bags placed in the fields, which used to seem unusual to me, and I no longer felt anything. The bags, camouflaged with green sheets, had been there for a long time, blending in with the surrounding vegetation.

I used infrared photography, which turns the plants red, to capture this unusual situation in my photographs. Originally, this photographic technique was used for military purposes during the film era to photograph the ground from aircraft and locate man-made objects. It seemed appropriate for photographing Fukushima, which encompasses the conflict between the visible and invisible.

In this work, reality and unreality are mixed in a single photograph, and these are crossed and chewed over in my mind.

I feel an irresistible pull toward Fukushima and its landscape, whose concepts and interpretations seem to change with the times.

Profile

Yusuke Taniguchi

Born in Sapporo, Hokkaido in 1976.

Since 2006, I have been working as a contract photographer for a weekly magazine, covering entertainment, imperial family, etc.

Since March 11, 2011, I have continued to cover the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Jury selection

This series meticulously visualized the relationship between nature and humans through a very intelligible depiction.

Links

• Instagram：@yusuke_taniguchi_