Naoya Hatakeyama

Rating:
Summary: Magician of the interface between man and his environment
Review: Naoya Hatakeyama, born in 1958, is a highly respected photographer in Japan. He has a major following in Germany because of the influence of the Bechers, with whom has thematic affinity. However, he has not yet had a major exhibition in the United States. His first retrospective in France was at the Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles this summer, where he made an enormous impression. His photographs of the last 15 years, of limestone quarries and of the transformation of lime into cement, of rivers in cement channels above and underground in Tokyo and more recent photographs of house building in the new town of Milton Keynes in England constitute major parts of this book, with an excellent and poetic text by Hatakeyama and his co-authors. In these photographs, the hand of man is everywhere but people are never seen. The images are magnificent, beautifully framed and printed. Hatakeyama is a photographer whose importance and influence will certainly increase. This volume, making available work now out of press or hard to find, is highly recommended.