©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

I first came across Naohiro Maeda’s work when they were selected as a Finalist for the Klompching FRESH competition. His work immediately drew me in, creating an unsettling and otherworldly experience. These landscapes seem cold and could be anywhere, but give life to emotions that we don’t have words for. The feelings of being out of place, of life being full of experiences, of attempting to share these experiences with others who were not there. It’s like experiencing a memory of a place that you remember only bits and pieces of without definition. These images will resonate with anyone who has traveled without time to process their surroundings. Naohiro puts visuals to these emotions through his personal journey.

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

Naohiro Maeda is an artist from Japan. He studied photography at New England School of Photography and cognitive psychology at Keio University. He was selected for Klompching Gallery’s Fresh 2023 finalist, and Japan Photo Award by Xiaopeng Yuan. His works were exhibited internationally including the Griffin Museum of Photography and The Curated Fridge and featured in The Boston Globe. He is currently living in Ansbach, Germany.

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

Where the Wild Things Are

The more I spent time in the States as an immigrant, I feel that I became more unreliable as a narrator. It is tough to tell the new experience to my family and friends in Japan, especially the one year in the forest in Alaska. This project is to explore this unreliability. I gave the raw data I captured with a DSLR to Photoshop with new empty dimensions so its intelligence can “retouch” the landscape. I patch-worked “retouched” images.

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

©Naohiro Maeda, Untitled, 2023

Epiphany Knedler is an interdisciplinary artist + educator exploring the ways we engage with history. Using Midwestern aesthetics, she creates images and installations exploring histories. She is based in Aberdeen, South Dakota serving as a Lecturer of Art and the co-curator for the art collective MidwestNice Art. Her work has been exhibited in the New York Times, Vermont Center for Photography, Lenscratch, Dek Unu Arts, and awarded through the Lucie Foundation, F-Stop Magazine, and Photolucida Critical Mass.

Follow Epiphany Knedler on Instagram: @epiphanysk