Takeshi Shikama

1948, Japan

Takeshi Shikama only recently turned to photography after a long career in the field of design. He found himself irresistibly drawn to photographing forests; his life’s ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. His fascination for forests resulted in Shikama’s first photo series in 2007, Mori No Hida – Silent Respiration of Forests.

In 2008 Shikama started a new series: Utsoroi – Evanescence, which he divided in five parts: Forest, Field, Lotus, Garden and Landscape. For the last part of the series, he began working with handmade Japanese Gampi paper. The printing progress with this type of paper requires a great deal of time and manual labor, which reflects the intimacy Shikama has with his subject matter.

Shikama’s work has been exhibited all over the world and has been included in many important collections, which include the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.