Cells

This was another undertaking that involved pinhole photography with another handmade camera with multiple lenses, though different in design and the way it worked and exposed the film. It also involved a different printing process: the beautiful printmaking process of photo etching.

Artist statement

It takes many cells to make a living thing. A single cell does little by itself but, combined with others, can form anything from a spider to a human. I took multiple images of representing the different sides of myself. I’d like to think each image is almost like a single cell. Taken from a different perspective with the pinhole camera, these portrayals represent the basics of who I am, the one part (the body) that is the box for our souls. The ear, the nose, or any part of the body can be photographed multiple times, as many times as one wants, but it cannot by itself reveal the real person inside. Cells are the foundation, the building blocks of our existence but it takes the spirit or soul to give purpose and meaning as well as our personalities.

CELLS Exhibitions

Atsuko was invited to be the featured artist in pinhole photography show at RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA in 2010.

Cells has been selected in multiple juried exhibitions

Photography without a Lens/ 2021 / The Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts/ Providence, RI

Contemporary Portraiture Exhibition / 2019 /The Center for The Fine Art Photography/ Fort Collins, CO

Alternative Process Photography Exhibition/ 2016 / The Image Flow/Mill Valley, CA

Alternative Cameras: Pinholes to Plastic/ 2015/ Photo Place Gallery/Middlebury VT