Hiroshi Sugimoto (born 1948, Tokyo) is one of the most celebrated photographers of his generation, whose work bridges conceptual art and the deep traditions of Japanese aesthetics. Working with a large-format 19th-century-style camera, he creates long-exposure black-and-white photographs that treat the medium as a fossilisation of time. His iconic series — Seascapes, Theaters, Dioramas, and Conceptual Forms — each reduce the world to its most elemental qualities, probing the nature of perception, memory, and reality. In his Conceptual Forms series (2004), he photographed mathematical models and industrial instruments, transforming scientific objects into images of haunting, classical beauty — a homage to the Surrealist fascination with found objects, and in particular to Marcel Duchamp. Sugimoto has been awarded the Praemium Imperiale (2009), the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (2001), and is an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work is held in major institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Centre Pompidou, and the Tate Gallery.