In my work I aim to see and to help others to see both the wonder and indifference of my home town where is one of mega-cities in Japan.
Mega-city is seething with people and cars and we are physically very close.
But we remain indifferent to each other.
I look up and I look around the cityscape through my camera lens.
Rivers and embankments of the seashore are concrete-covered.
Roads are paved with asphalt, skyscrapers rear into the sky as like mountains.
This town is more than a town- it is a buried landscape.
If you are not from here, it may seem like an impersonal and cold place.
Yet, I recognize that the artificial objects and man-made structures are natural scenery for city residents like me.
Sunlight reflects on surface of the river flowing still through the city.
The sound of the wave is reborn in the noise of stream of cars. As the river flows, people drift in and out of the city.
The concrete cityscape and the rivers of people merge to become a new form of nature.
In this, I try to identify the human condition and I go into town to find out my answer by taking pictures.
I listen to the breathing of the city. Between the urban clutter on eye level to that of a crow's eye nest,
I explore a future where the majority of human population will dwell in mega-cities.
Through my photograhs, I ask what is the effect on the human in a man made landscape which engulfs us all?
I’ m very happy that you can feel atmosphere of my city.
Sound, wind, wave, smell and light. I want to feel everything around me. I want to capture it into my photos.
So, I would like to transmit my message.
Atsushi TAKAMATSU
