Naoya Hatakeyama
Shadow #068
21st century
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Naoya Hatakeyama
Shadow #068
21st century
Physical Qualities
Chromogenic print, 546 × 483 mm. (21 1/2 × 19 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Marc Edelson, Santa Fe
Object Number
2024.266
Naoya Hatakeyama used theatrical lights to create a mesmerizing photograph of the Shibuya River running through a channel in Tokyo, Japan. Hatakeyama has stated his desire to “challenge the anthropocentric mindset...upend our preconceptionsof aesthetics and humanity” and has gone further in explaining his motivation: “aspects of photography...are not human.” Hatakeyama's photograph mediates between nature and culture to recall the animating principles of Shinto. The river moving through its urban channel retains the power of moving water, essential as the cleansing agent in a Shinto purification rite.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2024; Marc Edelson, Santa Fe, New Mexico by inheritance, 2024; Brenda Edelson, Santa Fe, New Mexico by purchase; Taka Ishii, Tokyo; the artist
Frances Klapthor, "The Way of Nature: Art from Japan, China, and Korea," Baltimore Museum of Art, September 21, 2025-March 1, 2026
Inscribed: Verso: black ink on adhesive label, TL, "River Series / Shadow" /"068 (2002)/"A.P. 2/3"/[signature] 2004"
