Flowers of the Shadow

Kotaro Iizawa (Photography critic)

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Photogram is one of the oldest techniques in the area of photography. In fact, this could be said to have existed before the invention of photography; there are historical records, predating the creation of photography, which describes the process of capturing a photographic image, by placing the object on top of a paper coated with silver chloride and silver nitrate, and exposing it to light.

Being fascinated by the medium of photogram, Yoichiro Nishimura has continued to apply this technique into many of his artworks over the past years. His practice is not about mere representation of a conscious revival of traditional techniques, nor a return to the source. For Nishimura, photogram is rather a promising ground that allows him to explore and expand his new creative expressions; furthermore, the medium could indicate the possibility of new photographic expressions, still yet to come.

Nishimura has undertaken a new and original photographic technique, which he calls scangram. Scangram can be described as a digital version of photogram. It is a technique to create a negative digital image of an object, such as flowers and leaves, by placing them on top of a scanner. The biggest feature is in how the color is reversed from the original color into the complimentary color, as much as how the form and outline of an object is captured; thus a red Hibiscus or Azalea would result in a blue-ish outcome. The visual effect is extraordinary; the flowers exude a mystic atmosphere, as if they were bathed in moonlight. Through transforming themselves from the world of the positive to the negative, “flowers of the shadow” come to light.

When looking back in the history of photography as media expressions, we come across practitioners – similar to magicians or alchemists – who indulged their passions in creating mystical images, rather than representing or documenting the reality as it is. For them, photogram remained an important tool for their creative expressions. Man Ray, known as “alchemist of images”, is one of the many practitioners of photogram representing the 20th century; and clearly, Yoichiro Nishimura is a photographer following the same artistic lineage.

His exploration of photogram will show no end. In the case of scangram, I see no reason why the motif should be limited to plants; potentially, the range of subject matter could be expanded to various objects and living things – including human. Having said that, I feel it was genuinely positive that he started the series with botanical motifs; as the “flowers of the shadow”, emanating subtly in the darkness, illuminate the artist himself – reticent, yet remarkably passionate deep inside.