In collaboration with Polka Galerie, I curated a solo exhibition entitled Boundary Hunt of the work made by Toshio Shibata in the early 2000s with Polaroid’s legendary Type 55 black-and-white film.

After twenty years of criss-crossing his country with his 8×10 view camera, Shibata felt the need to make a fresh start. This led to a period of experimentation, during which he returned to the Type 55 film he had used as a student. Between 2000 and 2004, he shot over 400 images in Japan and the United States using this film, whose 4×5 format enabled him to use a camera that was easier to handle and transport. Furthermore, the chemical process of the film stock produced by Polaroid caused a shift in his practice. During development, a border made up of rough, almost metallic lines and chemical traces appeared. Shibata decided to integrate this into the work:

“When I look at the resulting image, I find myself on the boundary between a photograph and an art drawing.”

Toshio Shibata

This border gave its name to the Boundary Hunt series, a reference to the frame superimposed on the images, but also to the intersection between the natural and man-made world in which Shibata situates his practice. A book of work from the Boundary Hunt series was published by Poursuite in 2021.

Toshio Shibata, Boundary Hunt

Polka Galerie, Paris, 2022

“When I look at the resulting image, I find myself on the boundary between a photograph and an art drawing.”

Toshio Shibata