In very good condition.

This image of a parked vehicle covered in rust is a work from Moriyama Daido’s Hawaii series. The series stemmed from the simple desire to ‘photograph Hawaii in black and white’. Taken over the course of five visits to the island between 2004 to 2007, the photographs capture various aspects of island life, encapsulating memories of the people, landscape and the natural scenes he encountered. In shooting the series in monochrome, Moriyama defies convention and subverts the typically colorful, vibrant, and exotic image of Hawaii. The choice of subjects within the series include natural land formations, beach resorts, sunbathers, and cars. The images are pointedly vague, with photos of palm trees and sand, recording scenes that can be found on any beach resort, almost anywhere in the world. In capturing the island in this way, Moriyama creates a strong sense of place, but also a simultaneous sense of geographical ambiguity. As well as a continued use of black and white, Moriyama’s distinctive style of photography allows us to find traces of his homeland within Hawaii. His work conveys a fixation in documenting the westernization of modern culture. Therefore, direct parallels can be drawn between the high-rise resorts of Hawaii and the influence of America on the urban landscape of post-war Japan. Though ‘Hawaii’ provided Moriyama with a contrasting geographical location to Japan, the images represent his existential search for home within the unfamiliar.

Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo