Shota Nagase is a Japanese artist based in Gunma, whose practice explores the relationship between light, time, memory, and irreversible transformation.

Using long exposure and deliberate camera movement, he creates abstract photographic works that exist between photography, drawing, and physical gesture. Rather than documenting fireworks as spectacle, his works engage with the moment in which energy appears and disappears, leaving only traces of an unrepeatable event.

Central to his practice is the dual nature of gunpowder: a material historically connected both to celebration and destruction. Through this tension, Nagase investigates emergence, collapse, absence, and the instability of perception itself.

His works are often produced as pigment prints on traditional Japanese washi paper, emphasizing fragility, texture, and material presence. In recent years, he has also expanded his practice toward experimental forms of presentation and installation.

Nagase’s works have been exhibited internationally, including at the VII International Tashkent Photo Biennale (Uzbekistan) and HKU SPACE (Hong Kong). His ongoing series Trace of the Vanishing examines how existence can remain visible only through the process of disappearance.