{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1399006"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1399006/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KL1039/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KL1039/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KL1039","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1399006","accessionNumber":"E.691-2017","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Hakkoda #2","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This photograph embodies Sato’s ephemeral imagination. It was made in the primeval Hakkoda forest, in northern Honshu on the main island of Japan. The image reveals a long fascination with the sculptural form of the Japanese Beech tree. Sato has said that to him ‘these trees suggest the ancient continental origins of the Japanese people while representing masculine strength and feminine sensitivity’. To make the picture, he exposed large-format film, during which he moved in front of the camera with a mirror reflecting the sun’s rays. The power of the sun momentarily ‘blinds’ the camera, creating an area that registers on film as an intense flare of light. Although we know that Sato is standing somewhere in the scene, we struggle to locate precisely where. While his traces are like pinpoint coordinates on a map, all we can do is estimate his continually moving location and follow the possible connecting trails. In this way, his photographs can be seen as enigmatic sculptural or physical performances. Knowing how Sato makes his images, we recognise there is not a multiplicity of presences indicated by the lights, but instead a multiplicity of one presence: the artist’s. His omnipresence might be a hint of some kind of divinity: the ever-present force of an invisible creator. Or it may simply be a record of the movement of one human force. However it is interpreted, human or divine, the light is a kind of mark that asserts both transcendence and specificity: “I was here,” even if, as in life, it is only momentarily.","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph depicting a forest scene, with many bright light spots surrounding the predominant tree in the foreground","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Tokihiro Sato","id":"AUTH345184"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":"."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gelatin silver process","id":"AAT139114"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatin silver print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[{"text":"early 21st century","id":"x36590"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2017KL1039"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"EXH2","id":"THES265485"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Aomori","id":"x32696"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2009","earliest":"2009-01-01","latest":"2009-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group ","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Tokihiro Sato, 'Hakkoda #2', 2009, gelatin silver print","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Presence of Absence: The Photographs of Tokihiro Sato', Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery (2010)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Aomori","id":"x32696"},{"text":"Japan","id":"x29399"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"forest","id":"AAT8863"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"'Into the Woods: Trees in Photography', 18 November 2017 - 22 April 2019:\r\n\r\nTokihiro Sato (born 1957)\r\nHakkoda #2\r\n2009\r\n\r\nThis photograph was made in the forests of the Hakkoda Mountains in northern Honshu on the main island of Japan. For Sato, these beech trees suggest the ancient origins of the Japanese people and represent both masculine strength and feminine sensitivity. The bright spots in the image were created using a mirror to reflect the sun’s rays back into the camera during a long exposure. \r\n\r\nGelatin silver print\r\nPurchased with the support of the V&A Photographs Acquisition Group\r\nMuseum no. E.691-2017","date":{"text":"2017","earliest":"2017-01-01","latest":"2017-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["E.691-2017"],"accessionNumberNum":"691","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2017,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017KM9392"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-05","recordCreationDate":"2017-06-22","availableToBook":false}}