Daisuke Yokota

A recent body of work in which Yokota intensifies his exploration of photographic materiality and transformation. The images originate from negatives subjected to heat, light leaks and chemical reactions, processes that leave visible traces on the surface of the work. Rather than preserving the photograph as a stable record, Yokota treats it as a vulnerable, reactive substance.

In Temperature, the image becomes both object and event. Figures and spaces seem to dissolve into unstable tonal fields, oscillating between abstraction and residual figuration. The physical stress applied to the material introduces a sense of volatility, as if the photograph were exposed to elemental forces. The series underscores Yokota’s ongoing investigation into photography as a medium defined not only by representation, but by temperature, pressure and time.

Room/monitor is a self-published book developed as part of a commissioned assignment for the magazine Vostok No.2 “Violence,” to photograph Comme des Garçons Homme Plus Fall/Winter 2019. Wearing the garments himself while taking the photographs, Yokota transformed the editorial context into a highly personal investigation of identity and perception.

Screens, reflections and spatial fragmentation structure the series. The image is repeatedly mediated, interrupted and reframed, creating a layered and sometimes disorienting visual experience. Rather than documenting fashion, Room/monitor examines the relationship between body, camera and environment. The result is a psychologically charged body of work in which the boundaries between observer and subject, performance and documentation, are deliberately blurred.

In Sludge, Yokota pushes the photographic image toward states of density and dissolution. Through repeated re-photographing, scanning and material manipulation, forms appear submerged or partially obscured, as if sinking into a viscous visual matter. The surface of the image becomes thick and heavy, resisting immediate legibility.

The series reflects on the instability of memory and perception. Subjects seem to emerge and recede simultaneously, caught in a process of continuous transformation. Rather than offering clarity, Sludge embraces opacity and distortion, allowing the image to function as a shifting field in which traces accumulate and dissolve. Photography here becomes less a window onto the world and more a sedimented space of uncertainty.

Sediment is rooted in Yokota’s sustained interest in layering, accumulation and repetition. The works evoke geological processes, where strata build up over time through gradual deposition. Multiple exposures and interventions create images that appear compacted and textured, as if compressed by invisible pressure.

The surfaces carry the impression of time having passed through them. Visual fragments overlap and merge, suggesting that each image contains within it the residue of previous states. In this sense, Sediment proposes photography as a form of material memory. The photograph does not fix a single moment, but rather records a sequence of transformations, layered and condensed into a single, complex surface.

In Color Photographs, Yokota extends his experimental practice into a heightened chromatic spectrum. Intense hues, abrupt tonal shifts and unexpected color inversions disrupt conventional expectations of photographic realism. Color is not descriptive, but structural. It shapes space, depth and atmosphere.

Despite the visual vibrancy, the series remains grounded in process. Re-photographing, digital interference and physical manipulation continue to play a central role. The result is a body of work in which color operates as both sensation and destabilizing force. Rather than clarifying the image, chromatic intensity amplifies ambiguity, reinforcing Yokota’s commitment to pushing the photographic medium beyond its traditional aesthetic boundaries.

In cloud, Yokota shifts the focus toward immateriality and diffusion. Forms appear suspended within soft, vaporous fields, as if dissolving into atmospheric layers. The series moves away from the solidity of physical space and instead explores states of transition and dispersion.

Through digital processing and re-photographing, contours are softened and structures partially erased. The image becomes fluid, hovering between presence and disappearance. In cloud, photography is treated as a mutable surface, capable of drifting beyond fixed representation and entering a realm defined by instability, movement and light.

site/cloud explores the tension between physical location and immaterial presence. Architectural elements and spatial references appear only to dissolve into atmospheric fields through digital and analog manipulation. The solidity of the “site” is gradually destabilized, while the “cloud” emerges as a metaphor for dispersion and flux.

The series reflects on the contemporary condition of images circulating between physical and digital realms. Surfaces seem suspended between density and evaporation, suggesting a world in which form is constantly reconfigured. By oscillating between structure and dissolution, site/cloud examines how photography negotiates space in an era defined by instability and dematerialization.

In nocturnes, Yokota turns to darkness as both subject and condition. Low light, shadow and grain dominate the compositions, producing images that feel intimate and introspective. Visibility is reduced, and forms emerge only gradually from obscurity.

The series investigates the threshold between presence and absence. Darkness becomes an active material, shaping the perception of space and depth. Rather than illuminating the scene fully, Yokota allows ambiguity to persist. In doing so, nocturnes emphasizes the sensory and psychological dimensions of photography, inviting the viewer into a slowed, contemplative encounter with the image.