At First Glance

by Karen Sinsheimer, Curator of Photography
Santa Barbara Museum of Art

The photographic artists who are exploring the landscape of the twenty-first century are, in many ways, like the early photographers of the 19th century who portrayed what they discovered as honestly and as beautifully as possible. But unlike those 19th century photographers, the landscape for today’s artists stretches across the globe and the images may code hidden truths.

Artists are essential interpreters of our times. Utilizing their passion and technical skill, they often are able to transform unsavory truths and ugly realities into images that demand our attention and reflection. Jerry Takigawa’s deceptively beautiful photographs of elegantly arranged objects seduce the viewer into a closer look, but they also open the opportunity to consider more deeply.

Akin to photographers who are able to confront and reflect difficult and painful issues through aesthetic images—of illness, poverty, conflict and death, for example—Jerry Takigawa transforms colorful plastic objects that in fact become “False Food” for birds (and the road to starvation) into images that we can digest. His photographs are compelling, but his message becomes all the more powerful because of the subtlety of his visual language.