Aki Lumi's Traceryscape

I found the work of Japanese born/Paris-based artist Aki Lumi today via Lens Culture. His latest series, Traceryscape, consists of monochrome photographs embellished with elaborate, hand-drawn lines and shapes. The photographs largely illustrate the detritus of everyday urban culture. However, in certain pieces, Lumi subverts the correct orientation of the photograph and tips the image on its side. This destabilization reinforces how tenuous sensory perception truly is. The simple act of disorienting the image produces a palpable and physical reaction. Ultimately, the images from Traceryscape are simultaneously chaotic, vertiginous and, above all, thoroughly rewarding. In the text accompanying the Lens Culture feature, Linn K. writes:

"If you follow with your eyes the lines and shapes that skate freely across the surface of the landscapes, you realize that your gaze stops short – as though caught in a trap set by the artist – on devices in the scenery: superfine details that in an ordinary photograph would escape your notice; the “background,” which is normally relegated to the role of a photograph’s supporting-actor. Antennas so thin they disappear into the sky, strange wires hanging down from signs, unintelligible markings on buildings – all are now lodged firmly in the viewer’s gaze."











All photographs from the series Traceryscape

All Images © Aki Lumi