Unbeknown: Haunting photographs of a winter seascape and hidden beach

In her photographic series Unbeknown, Japanese artist Yoko Naito captures the vacant winter shores of the city and explores outward changes in the environment, the human condition and their artefacts.

Speaking of her work, Yoko said: "This project indicates the outward change in the environment and the human condition. The seascape in summer is full of cheerful people under the bright sunlight. Conversely, the cold and silent winter seascape covered with snow exists such as the unbeknown beach. This contrast of the seascape depicts the outward change in the same environment. The change of environment is closely related to human emotion and conduct. The human life that varies from season to season indicates the repetition as a universal phenomenon."

Born in Japan, Yoko graduated from Nihon University College of Art in Photography in Tokyo in 2007. She received a Sony World Photography Award for Travel in 2015 with a shortlist in Lifestyle. She also won the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts Young Portfolio Award in 2014 and 2015; juried by Eiko Hosoe, Daido Moriyama et al. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions within the United States, Europe and Japan, most recently at Sony Imaging Gallery in Tokyo. She is currently based in Berlin, Germany.

To enjoy Unbeknown in the flesh, you can see her solo exhibition at the Outside gallery in North Adams, Massachusetts until 19 September 2016.

Via direct submission | All images courtesy of Yoko Naito