shashasha

Shot between 2000 and 2004 in Japan and the United States, the title of Toshio Shibata’s photobook “Boundary Hunt” refers to the intersection between natural and human landscapes that are the subject of this series. Known for his focus on artificial infrastructure, in his photography Shibata explores instances of equilibrium between nature and man-made objects. Perhaps influenced by his training in oil painting at the very beginning of his career, Shibata’s compositions and techniques achieve a unique balance between concreteness and abstraction.

The photographs in “Boundary Hunt” were shot on Polaroid Type 55 film, which generates a characteristic pattern on the edges of the photo. Shibata dared to leave these edges as part of the work: “The imperfection of the Type 55 film border has always fascinated me. When I look at the resulting image, I find myself on the boundary between a photograph and an art drawing” (from Toshio Shibata’s afterword (included in English)).