TSUKIHAE (Moonlight)

"Tsukihae" — moonlight — depicts a traditional townscape illuminated by the particular quality of Japanese moonlight: the way it silhouettes rooflines against a luminous dark sky, fills streets with a pale, directionless glow, and transforms the familiar architecture of a neighborhood into something simultaneously recognizable and otherworldly. Nishijima's nocturnal scenes use the night sky's deep blues and purples as a ground against which the moonlit architectural forms appear almost theatrical. The moon was among the most potent traditional subjects of Japanese visual culture, and Nishijima engages this tradition with his characteristic architectural specificity.