The New Horizon - Scenes in northern Japan nearly two years after the disaster - Photography

*The Sunflower, Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Sept. 11, 2012
*The Hawk, Higashimatsushima, Miyagi, Dec. 11, 2012       



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Masayo Nishimura
The New Horizon - Scenes in northern Japan nearly two years after the disaster
Photography

April 29 - May 24, 2014
Opening Reception, Thursday, May 1st, 6pm - 8pm


Ceres gallery is pleased to present Masayo Nishimura’s The New Horizon - Scenes in northern Japan nearly two years after the disaster, a solo exhibition of Nishimura’s photographs. The Opening Reception will take place on Thursday, May 1st from 6pm until 8pm. The artist will be present.

This exhibition features Nishimura's color photographs that were shot in the regions of the northern Pacific coast of Japan from mid to late 2012.  This is the area hit hardest by the Great Tohoku Kanto Earthquake & Tsunami on March 11, 2011.

In this series, Nishimura focuses on capturing moments in the restoration process by setting the scenes on the horizon under the sky. She captures images such as a field full of sunflowers under rain clouds, a locomotive lying in a mountain of debris, a bird flying over shattered houses in a field, a metal-framed building standing alone on a flooded seawater plain, and a makeshift altar shining brightly among the winter grasses.

She also photographed noted monuments in regions such as the Kyotokumaru No. 18 in Kesennuma city, a fishing vessel which was swept over a half mile inland from the city's dock by the tsunami, and the Miracle Pine Tree in Rikuzentakata city, the sole surviving tree among 70,000 pine trees on the coast. Nishimura visited right before the tree was cut down as part of the project to preserve it.

As we have seen in Nishimura’s previous series of NYC subway photographs, her image making is simple and spontaneous in style but appears uniquely quiet, fictitious and somehow meditative. However in this exhibition, each of her images also directly communicates with the viewer about what the regions have been through since the day of disaster, such as devastating loss, overwhelming sadness and emptiness as well as a glimpse of hope and strength in the areas’ long recovery process.

March 11, 2014 marked the three year anniversary of the disaster. Nishimura hopes her images will help people outside of Japan gain a better understanding of the regions’ on-going recovery effort.


* All the shots are taken handheld with a 120 mm film camera and digitally C-printed on Kodak & Fuji paper.


About the Artist

Masayo Nishimura is a native of Osaka, Japan. In 1993, she began her study of photography at CUNY Hunter College under Professor Mark Feldstein, where she discovered her interest in NYC subway stations. Since then, her subway-themed photographic works have been exhibited in various galleries around New York City.  In 1999, while continuing her study of photography, she also completed her MFA in Computer Art. Her thesis animation film, Dream – a subway love story – has been screened worldwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art as an official selection of the New Directors/New Films Festival, sponsored by the Cinema Society of Lincoln Center and MOMA.


In 2000, she started working on a series of color photographs dealing with the lights and shadows created by subway architecture. The work, entitled Uptown Bound, was first exhibited in September 2001 in New York City and has been receiving enthusiastic responses from viewers. Since 2008, she has often returned to her native land and captured everyday scenes in the Tokyo subway and street. Those works were first exhibited in 2011, in an exhibition titled Recollections: From New York to Tokyo, which evoked responses from viewers as the transformation of an everyday scene into a unique expression that unexpectedly tells a story.


For more information please contact:

Stefany Benson
Director, Ceres Gallery
547 West 27th St Suite 201 New York, NY 10001

phone: 212-947-6100
fax: 212-202-5455

art@ceresgallery.org
http://ceresgallery.org/

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12pm - 6pm and Thursday 12-8pm.

Masayo Nishimura:
mniart@aol.com
http://multisoup.com