[Creative Concept]
Theme
My work represents the mutually complementary relation between civilizations and human in the daily life through the personification of society and civilization as “tsukumogami”.
I find there are two characteristics to the human: the irreplaceable independent individual with personality and replaceable “body” or “object”. The latter is an anonymous presence, stemming from the social attributes like occupation, title and roll. An individual establishes family or friend relationships and ensure the continuation of the species while when a human engages with the society, they serve as replaceable “body”. The presence of an individual nor personality does not exist in the output of the “body” activity. It becomes part of the civilization as an anonymous participant to the society.
The buildings and transit systems are the results of the “body” activity. They are part of the developed civilization but sometimes I feel personality, like the used and aged artifacts are inhabited by spirits and become “tsukumogami”, in them.
From this perspective, we can say that the relationship between man and civilization is not confrontational, but is mutually complimentary and constitutes the society. The hustle and bustle of the everyday scenery is the process to construct the society and civilization, like the large scaled computer processing huge data, and is the fragment of the society or the civilization. When I see the daily scenery this way, I strongly feel the mutual relation between the personal and impersonal individuals of the society, as well as with the society and civilization. I also feel the presence of “tsukumogami” in the dazzling scene of everyday life.

Objects
I mostly take pictures of buildings, social infrastructures of the city, and the people in the city.

Style
I take pictures in color and in high-definition, which is not visible to the naked eye, to reproduce the daily scenes to convey the existence of “tsukumogami” in the society and the civilization.

[Resume]
While I work for an IT company as a specialist of Information security, I take pictures to represent “the mutually complementary relation between civilizations and human in the daily life”.
born in July 1961 in Yamagata prefecture and currently reside in Tokyo.
graduate in 1982 from the hardware department of the computer technical school.
studied photography at Japan Center of Photography.

Exhibition
<Solo Exhibition>
December 2015: “Persona”, Bright Photo Salon (Tokyo, Japan)
<Group Exhibition>
Juy 2019: “layard moment”, Shinagawa Ward Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Apr 2019: “seconds”, IIA Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Oct 2018: “Post Card”, IIA Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Jul 2018: “Vessel”, Shinagawa Ward Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Jun 2015: “Persona”, Bright Photo Salon (Tokyo, Japan)
Mar 2015: “Smalltalks”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
Feb 2015: “Smalltalks”, National Art Center (Tokyo, Japan)
Jan 2015: “Smalltalks”, Setagaya Art Museum – Tiji Kyokawa Memorial Gallery(Tokyo, Japan)
Dec 2014: “Pilgrimage”, Bright Photo Salon (Tokyo, Japan)
May 2015: “Differentiation” , Bright Photo Salon (Tokyo, Japan)

Awards

2020: Silver winner BIFA 2020
2019: Bronze Winner, BIFA 2019
2019: Honorable Mention Winner, IPA 2019
2019: Honorable Mention Winner, MIFA 2019
2018: Editor’s choice, LensCulture Portrait Awards 2018 Competition Gallery
2017: Honorable Mention Winner, IPA 2017
2016: Photo Awards Honorable Mention Winner, TIFA 2016
2016: Soyo Mochida Art eulogy award, Heart Art in Tokyo 2016
2015: Second Grand Prix, Bright Photo Salon Award
2015: Orange Ribbon Encouragement Prize, Best Author Exhibition – Heart At in Tokyo
2010: Aaccepted, The 10th Ricoh Photo Contest

[HP]
https://plus-sum-lab.jp/
https://www.lensculture.com/masakazu-takahashi
[Contact]
plus_sum@live.jp