Atelier 31 | Meet the Artist Naohiro Maeda - Griffin Museum of Photography

Unique images, hand crafted, sculptural objects are the focus of Naohiro Maeda‘s series Origami-grams. These soft cyanotypes hold organic and structured shapes and textures, playing with light and shadow. Maeda’s idea that these are memory keepers posited an interesting theory. How do we transfer our own notion onto an abstract pattern, like a rorschach test.

cyanotype image with origami paper squares

untitled No. 1

Origami-grams

These photographs are portraits of origami as a memory keepers. I bent, tore, arranged and rearranged origamis and noted became aware that they held the memory of my actions in their delicate small thin physical shapes. The resulting images can appear both two- and three- dimensional, playing with the viewer’s perceptions of flatness and space in both the subject and picture plane.

This series was created using cyanotype materials, colored pencils, and origami papers similar to those I played with as a child in Japan. As an artist who works primarily in digital photography and Photoshop, I particularly enjoyed working with my hands to create these one-off images.

cyanotype with origami squares photograph

Untitled N. 2

We asked Naohiro about his Atelier experience –

Which of these images was the impetus for this series? How did it inform how you completed the series?

I had been wanting to create still life images which can be read as fine art photography. I was shooting food photography when I was in Tokyo and it taught me to make rhythms and a harmony in a picture frame and I wanted to apply these skills to a different subject/project.

Origami came to me when I learned that origami keeps humans’ memories in their surfaces and foldings when I saw an interview footage of an origami artist. I found it interesting because in the way it is similar to photography when we see them as tools for keeping our memories. Plus it is something related to my nationality, so I decided to try them.

I was struggling to make images with rectangle origamis than square ones, so I used color pencils to “repair” images.

cyanotype with origami sqaures photograph

Untitled N. 3

What do you hope we as viewers take away from viewing your work?

I hope I can deliver some sense of musicality and tranquility in images.

Untitled N. 4

How the Atelier has helped you hone your vision as an artist?

I have challenges for reviewing/editing my own work and finding a direction to construct a portfolio. Meg and classmates kindly guided me thorough the portfolio making process.

Tell us what is next for you creatively.

I have an ongoing project of landscape photos and new one with abstract.

About Naohiro Maeda –

Naohiro Maeda is an artist from Japan who resides in Salem, MA. He investigates psychological landscapes and collective memories through photographic practices. His works were have been exhibited in the United States, United Kingdom and Russia, including the Griffin Museum of Photography and The Curated Fridge, and featured in The Boston Globe. He is represented by AREA gallery in Boston.

To see more of Naohiro Maeda‘s photography log onto his website.

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