Hatakeyama grew up on the northeast coast of Japan, an area rich in limestone, and the quarries and factories associated with limestone processing played a key role in the artist’s understanding of the world. His father worked for a time in a cement factory, and would often take him fishing at a port where quarried limestone was loaded onto ships. After his graduate studies Hatakeyama began photographing these quarries and factories. Intrigued by the daily blasts to free limestone from cliffs, he set out to capture these dramatic explosions in “Blast”, a series he began in 1995.
naoya-hatakeyama-blast-7
