RYOTA SAKURAI
櫻井 涼太
Profile
Ryota Sakurai was born in Kumano, Mie, in 1987.
He began working with photography independently in 2013 and held his first photography exhibition in 2024. Following this exhibition, he began his practice as an artist. He is currently based in Tokyo, where he continues to make work alongside his career as an IT systems engineer.
Artist Statement
"Interval"
Understand, decide and move on – this sequence is required in many situations throughout my daily life. The demand for it is particularly strong in my work as an IT systems engineer, and as I continued to respond to it, the sequence itself eventually became second nature. As soon as I think I have understood something, I move on to the next step before feeling or thinking about it any further. This carries the risk of treating a single understanding as the answer and overlooking what might still be felt or thought.
The same thing happens when we look at what is in front of us. When we see something, we understand what it is before we become conscious of its shape, colour or texture. But can that understanding alone fully capture what we are seeing?
What I call the "Interval" is a state in which seeing does not end even after something is "understood". In my practice, I use photography as a starting point to create conditions in which this "Interval" can arise. I aim to create works that leave time for the viewer to continue looking, even after they think they understand what they are seeing.
Exhibitions
Installation Views
Installation Views
Installation Views
RYOTA SAKURAI
櫻井 涼太
PrACTICE
Between Here and There｜その間 (2026-)
"Between Here and There" is a project that approaches "Interval" through both photography and the environments in which photographs are encountered.
The project aims to create conditions in which an "Interval" – a state in which seeing does not end even after something is thought to be understood – can arise not only in exhibition spaces, but also within everyday life.
To this end, I create photographs that leave room for continued looking beyond an initial understanding, while also treating where and how those images are encountered as conditions that form part of the work.
Below, I introduce specific practices for creating conditions in which an "Interval" can arise, organised into two approaches: the form of the photograph and the environment in which the photograph is encountered.
Approach 01 – Form of the Photograph
In "Between Here and There", I choose the form of each photograph according to how the image is to be encountered.
Aspect ratio, scale, material, method of support and placement shape the movement of the gaze, the distance from the photograph and the relationship between the image and the surrounding space.
The form is therefore not fixed, but chosen for each work, ranging from conventional framing to approaches that reconfigure the material, support or placement itself. Each is intended to create conditions in which an "Interval" can arise for the particular image.
5:1
5:1 is a horizontal format that I have continued to use since the early stages of "Between Here and There".
With this ratio, the image extends across a wide horizontal span, yet can still be seen as a unified whole. When attention turns to different parts, the gaze moves from side to side, while the whole remains within view. With each shift in attention, the relationship between part and whole is perceived anew.
I use this ratio to create a state in which both remain present: the image is visible as a whole, while there is still room for attention to turn towards its individual parts.
Unique Contours #1
Unique Contours #2
Inside and Outside the Photograph
The form and texture of a frame surrounding a photograph also affect how the work is seen. I consider the relationship between the photograph and its surroundings as part of the work’s composition, creating conditions in which seeing can continue even after what is depicted has been understood.
Fine forms and tonal variations in the trees and ground extend across the photograph, with a deer among them. For this photograph, I chose 「紙の額縁」 (Kami no Gakubuchi), a moulded-paper frame, to give form and texture to the area surrounding it as well.
The surface of 「紙の額縁」 has fine variations in relief, while the photograph is also filled with fine forms and tonal variations in the trees and ground. Because these elements visually correspond with one another, I considered it possible to create a relationship in which neither the photograph nor the frame comes too strongly to the foreground or becomes lost, making it possible to move back and forth between the two while viewing the work.
In addition, the paper frame incorporates a separate print of the photograph used in this work, which was pulped and mixed into its material. This also connects the photograph and the frame surrounding it at the material level. The photograph and frame are related both visually and materially.
Frame by Instant Material (@instantmaterial)
Between Photographs
Using lines and forms within one photograph as cues, I create relationships between it and other photographs.
In the five 5:1 photographs, I combined the images using lines that cross each frame as a guide. The lines break at the edges of the photographs and reappear in the adjacent images. This is an attempt to extend relationships within a single image into the spaces between photographs.
In the ten photographs arranged across the corner of a wall, I paired the images vertically based on relationships between their lines, forms, and light and dark areas, arranging the five pairs from right to left. By placing a 90-degree corner where these relationships shift, the continuity between the photographs does not remain confined to a single plane. The relationships within the images extend into the spaces between photographs and further into the exhibition space.
Approach 02 – Environment in Which the Photograph Is Encountered
In "Between Here and There", I also treat where and how a photograph is encountered as conditions that form part of the work.
In an exhibition space, on a smartphone home screen or within a working environment, the movement of the gaze, the distance from the photograph and the relationship between looking and the next action are each different.
I therefore place works not only in exhibition spaces but also within living and working environments, choosing a form suited to each context. By treating everyday life itself as a site in which the work can be encountered, I create conditions in which an "Interval" can arise.
Photography and Exhibition Space
Floor-Standing Photograph of a White Line
I consider where a photograph is placed and the space surrounding it as part of the conditions that allow seeing to continue.
I divided a photograph of a white line separating the roadway from the sidewalk into two sections and placed them upright on the floor. The white line, which originally lies on the ground, rises vertically from the actual floor.
I positioned the work between two existing columns in the exhibition space, incorporating the relationship between the photograph and its surroundings into the composition. The white line within the photograph is interrupted once between the upper and lower sections. This gap creates an opportunity for the viewer's gaze to move from within the photograph into the surrounding space, before returning to the photograph.
🌐 App Store - Apple
Interval / 空白
iOS Widget Application
The app "Interval / 空白" displays photographic works created for this project as a widget on the smartphone home screen.
Visual information displayed on a smartphone screen is, in many cases, immediately tied to understanding, judgement and the next action.
By creating a state in which photographs remain present on the home screen as part of everyday use, the app arranges the conditions for an "Interval" to arise.
It leaves another place for the gaze to go within the home screen, beyond information that directs the next action.
🌐 App Store - Apple
Interval
Visual Studio Code Extension
The Visual Studio Code extension "Interval" displays photographic works created for this project within the interface used for writing code.
In the course of coding, actions are quickly tied to judgement, revision and the next operation.
The extension creates a state in which photographs remain present alongside the task at hand, arranging the conditions for an "Interval" to arise.
Within the flow towards judgement, revision and the next operation, it leaves room for the gaze to linger on the photographs.
🌐 Interval - Visual Studio Marketplace
No, it is not. The concepts of "negative space" and "ma" in photography mainly concern the arrangement of elements and the use of space within the frame. By contrast, "Interval" refers not to a particular composition or empty area, but to a state in which seeing does not end even after something is understood.
An "Interval" can therefore arise even when an image contains no large area of negative space.
Note: The Japanese term "ma" refers to an interval or pause in space or time, often understood in relation to composition. While both "ma" and "Interval" involve a kind of interval, "Interval" here refers to a state of perception rather than a structural feature of the image itself.
No.
It can arise before we understand what something is, but it is not limited to that moment. Even after we think we have understood it, aspects of what we see remain that cannot be fully grasped through that understanding.
"Interval" includes not only the time leading up to understanding, but also a state in which understanding does not bring the act of looking to a close.
The aim is not to make the work difficult to understand.
When a work is given a single explanation that serves as a definitive answer, the act of looking is likely to end there as well. I create works that do not close with a single understanding, allowing viewers to return their gaze to the image even after they think they understand it, so that seeing does not end there.
Not entirely.
I do not present a particular emotion or interpretation as the answer. At the same time, I choose what to photograph, how to structure the image and the forms and environments in which it is presented.
Through these choices, I create a state in which viewing does not end with a single understanding and the gaze can return to the image. What viewers take from the work will vary, but that does not mean that every possible way of seeing it is equivalent.
Photography can preserve what was before us as an image of a particular moment.
Once an image has been fixed, we can return our gaze to it repeatedly, even after we understand what it depicts. I use this quality of photography as a starting point for creating conditions in which the "Interval" can arise.
The starting point of my practice lies in my own experience of working as an IT systems engineer, where understanding, deciding and moving on gradually became habitual.
That experience informs my decisions about what to photograph and the forms and environments in which the work is presented. However, my aim is not to communicate a specific emotion or personal narrative.
Rather than serving as the subject matter of the work itself, my personal experience shapes both why I work with "Interval" and how I make the work.