Miniature likening photos feature days of "stay safe" antivirus fight

 

December 22, 2020

Miniature likening photos feature days of "stay safe" antivirus fight 

The young Japanese photographer has filled a part of exhibition rooms at an art museum in Saga, southwestern Japan, with a lot of miniature works and their corresponding zoomed pictures. 

The artist builds a unique world of miniature figures by fabricating small pieces with various personal effects casually found in the daily life and likening them to different things. This time, he focuses on items seen in the current days with the new covid-19 virus.

Visitors find miniature works made with disposable light blue face masks. Their pleats are compared to lane lines in the swimming pool in one photo and waves in the beach in another one. A different photo shows a clinical thermometer likened to a smart race car with four miniature wheels attached.  

A pair of surgical grabs is also likened to waves with which a female surfer is enjoying. 

Mourners and a priest are seen bowing to a coffin put on the PC keyboard which is likened to the graveyard.  

The Miniature Life Exhibition at the Saga museum started late in November, as Japanese people were increasingly concerned with the spread of the new coronavirus amid the approach of cold winter days. 

Tatsuya Tanaka, the 39-year-old artist, introduces himself as an art director and miniature photographer. 

His jobs include not only taking pictures of miniature objects but also crafting miniature figures to be placed at a georama setting made by himself for them. 

His "Miniature Calendar" website, opened in 2011, daily updates his works made with small items casually seen in the daily life likened to different things. 

Breads are sometimes likened to mountains, and fruits are compared to balloons. Further, vegetables are likened to forests.  

In a message to visitors at the museum, Tanaka says it is the very fight against the new coronavirus that has enabled him to produce the latest works, in an effort to survive the "stay safe" days. 

He hopes that visitors will have fun by finding the interesting features of the series of likened items.