My works for reproduce lost things, to confront failure, and to act as doors to others. I'm drawn to photography because, regardless of its appearance,
it inherently promises something existed and offers the ability to transform that image. This fascination leads me to deconstruct and alter images, free from specific techniques, as I contemplate the mediality of photography.
Rina Maeda
Last update : 07 Jul. 2025
Works
Skiagram
2021
Gelatin silver print
2030×1070
The artwork involves exposing human shadows onto photographic emulsion on a gauze. I using my own body to dodging a photograph of someone posing.This process leaves behind the silhouette due to the difference in shapes.
People live their lives carrying various roles, and these roles are often determined by random elements like the timing of events. An individual is made up of a combination of these roles. If "I" is something that emerges in the gaps between roles, then perhaps you could have been me, and I could have been you, couldn't I? I'm exploring how to understand the individual as the negative space of roles through the act of photography, which leaves behind shadows.
Cosmic
2020
gelatin silver print
1500×1060
People change with their environment. When you are in that process, you may feel as if there is another being inside you. It makes me wonder if something deeper than what appears on the surface is actually driving "me. By destroying a self-portrait with chemicals during development,
I'm exploring the possibilities of my own transformation and the chaos that comes with it.
Maronie
2024
Gelatin silver print
127×178
Developing images with resin makes them transparent and transforms them into relief-like forms. The images don't appear perfectly; instead, they tear in places, so the re-translated image oscillates between the original captured image and the resin's flaws and tears, and then appearing in a form that is neither.