Cemeteries Unusually Illuminated

His background in geography offered a different perspective on landscapes, and, since 1991, Taiji Matsue has been taking bird’s-eye view photographs at locations all over the world in an endless quest to amass samples of the earth’s surface. He has acquired his massive collection because of his continuing research efforts and nimble footwork. His work is designed to show both a panoramic views and vivid close-up images. So close you feel you can touch them. His work gracefully incorporates natural and man-made aspects of the earth, opening a new field of natural history for what can only be called and encyclopedia of earth.

In 2015, Matsue published LIM, a photo collection of cemeteries around the world—desolate burial grounds as well as rich and colorful cemeteries with penetrating brightness. Cemeteries are defined by culture and climate, and some look little like resting places.

‘Since my student days, cemeteries have been a recurring theme, and I select locations by my own criteria. In fact, not too many ideal locations exist’.

To cut spirituality from the photos, which he feels is a nagging cliché, Matsue limits his schedules to times that the sun falls evenly on all objects. Shade and horizon lines virtually disappear, and the texture of each object comes to life. This is the Matsue Method, offering detailed visual information as if one were seeing it under a microscope. His photos convey a universality of which one never tires. Taiji Matsue’s work may possibly be categorised as the conceptual art of the twenty-first century.