Thursday Salute to Originals: Shadow Artist Kumi Yamashita

Thursday, January 13, 2011

As flip side to last week’s salute to “light painting”, on this snowy Thursday we would like to salute artist Kumi Yamashita for her stunning manipulation of shadow.

In an exploration of the complex relationships between object, lens, canvas, shadow and light, Kumi Yamashita arranges objects to cast shadow into human forms.  Her techniques involve careful calibration of lighting angles and the interaction between surface and light – forming strikingly haunting compositions.  The resulting images human forms are merely illusions, but these photos surely speak for themselves.

Check out this video for a more in-depth breakdown of Yamashita’s illusory techniques (tip: if you’re in a rush, skip the first 40 seconds).

–> Is shadow an overlooked element in spatial design? How could these creative techniques inspire YOUR design work?

Image credit: Planet Oddity