After becoming known for his street photography taken both within and outside of Japan from the late 1970s until the early 1990s, in 1992, Keizo Kitajima embarked on two new bodies of work- his PORTRAITS series...and his PLACES series, featuring landscapes void of human figures. For his early works in his PLACES series, most photographs were taken in major cities around the world including Tokyo, London, New York, and Hong Kong. ...From the late 1990s, most of his works have been taken only in Japan, and in more recent years, in small villages and remote islands in the countryside of Japan. While the shift in his subject from urban to rural locations is at first glance a shift between polar opposites- global homogeneity vs. vernacular disparities- Kitajima is more so concerned with the idea of capturing “landscapes that have lost a name and face.” Such landscapes can be found all over Japan, but rarely do we notice them. They are “isolated places” that have forgotten their past and lost sight of their future. -Keizo Kitajima From exhibition announcement, Rat Hole Galllery, Tokyo.
Isolated Places: Photographs
