Hiroshi Sugimoto

The presence of the sea is a reality for some more than others. In Japan it has always been a defining force: the sea as a barrier or as a bearer of knowledge and communication; the sea as a source of livelihood or death, the raging sea. All of these images are human formed. Sugimoto challenges us to examine them through his restless travels, photographing seas from all over the globe, synthesizing them into a similar format; showing us that while all different, they are indeed the same- with no time, yet all time. His Seascapes, both day and night, all have horizon line at dead centre: this does not naturally occur. If one looks at the sea, the sky normally takes up to two-thirds of our vision depending on the vantage point. Sugimoto has consciously centred this photographs in order to create a symmetrical and composed (human altered) view.