Landscape

In its interior, Japan is mountainous and green. Most of the population still lives along its coasts, but as people slowly move inland, mountain sides are torn away to create necessary horizontal space. To secure the newly exposed inclines, concrete is sprayed and poured onto the vertical plains, or hoisted as pre-poured grids onto the hill sides. Since 1983, Toshio Shibata has photographed these sites. His elaborate compositions and exquisite black-and-white prints are works of art that record the merging – and resulting tension – of Japan’s great natural beauty and the craftsmanship of its engineers. Landscape presents a selection of forty-three photographs from this project, with essays by Anne Tucker and Etsuro Ishihara. This second printing of Landscape is limited to 1,000 numbered copies “Best Contemporary Monograph” Award – photo-eye.