Lux

This black and white photograph was taken by Haruhiko Sameshima in 1991. It is part of a series of images in which Sameshima has photographed everyday objects. Like Sunsilk and Cold Water Surf, other photographs from this series in Te Papa's collection, Lux is a black and white photograph taken with a large format, 4 x 5 inch Linhof camera. Sameshima has used polaroid film, rather than a standard black and white negative, and the result is the distinctive edge that surrounds the image.

Considered contrasts
Lux is an image of contrasts. The most obvious is the juxtaposition of the soap and the tap. This kind of visual joke is a key aspect of Sameshima's photographs of commodities, and could be considered a kind of surrealism. Taps and soap belong together, but this soap is still wrapped and this tap is unconnected to any water source. As a result, Sameshima's photograph offers a visual jolt, encouraging the viewer to reconsider such everyday objects and the meanings and functions they perform.

Genres of photography
But Lux is part of a contrast in another, less visible way. In 1992, this photograph was included in an exhibition called Aesthetic Science at the Lazelle Gallery. Sameshima's first solo show after graduating from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Aesthetic Science was an exhibition of contrasts - principally between photographs of everyday objects like Lux and photographs of nature and landscapes. Aesthetic Science played up the gap between the aesthetic traditions Sameshima had studied as part of his fine arts degree and the everyday consumer objects he used in his daily life. Of course, the gap is not always clear, since Lux is also a contemporary still life, and therefore establishes a relationship with a genre that has existed in European art since the 1600s.