Haruki tells us that there is more to see than what our eyes can see or any cameras can capture. She erases the characteristics of the landscape or motifs to puzzle people’s mind and leads us to think outside the box.

Haruki beautifully uses the black and the white in her photographs by intentionally under or over exposing images or moving around the negatives during the printing process. The lack or exaggeration of light and shadows deconstructs our perception of objects. The artist leaves the viewer in a state of contemplation; we are now creating our own new views of the world.

In this series, a deer is shot from different angles and the shadows add more drama to the image to create a sensation of motion and flotation. We would not know where this animal exists or even if it is alive which is actually a mounted animal displayed in a nature museum. The use of the colour black gives the viewer the impression of peeping through a bull’s-eye, as if the deer is our target and we are invited as a spectator to contemplate it.

Exhibition view of Maiko Haruki “A certain composition of eyes ” 2014 © Maiko Haruki Courtesy of TARO NASU Photo by Keizo KIOKU

Exhibition view of Maiko Haruki “A certain composition of eyes ” 2014 © Maiko Haruki Courtesy of TARO NASU Photo by Keizo KIOKU

Exhibition view of Maiko Haruki “A certain composition of eyes ” 2014 © Maiko Haruki Courtesy of TARO NASU Photo by Keizo KIOKU