MASUMI HAYASHI (1945-2006) was best known for her technique of creating photo collages by suturing together images into a grid format. Exploring a range of subjects, Hayashi trained her lens on Rust Belt landscapes, EPA Superfund sites, Japanese American internment camps from World War II, and decaying prisons.
With these sites as her points of departure, Hayashi crafted images with multiple perspectives, creating panoramas where seams unabashedly cut across landscapes. Using the panorama, a format typically associated with tourism, Hayashi’s images are instead attuned to the way social ills are expressed in space, extending views of landscape and infrastructure that exceed 360 degrees.