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Unbeknown: Haunting photographs of a winter seascape and hidden beach

What happens to those beaches we love to frequent during the colder months? Do they still enjoy visitors when they're covered in snow? Or do people stay away from the wintry seascape?

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Snow-covered beach with abandoned playground equipment including climbing frames, slides and benches beneath an overcast sky

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

Abandoned concrete apartment building half-submerged in snow-covered beach with tyre tracks leading toward it under a grey winter sky
Snow-covered beach with scattered figures and sailboats visible on the horizon under a grey winter sky
Snow-covered beach with metal fencing and a frozen seascape under grey skies in Yoko Naito's Unbeknown series
Wooden beach fence casting shadows across pristine snow with a grey sea and overcast sky in the distance
Snow-covered beach with scattered seabirds, yellow marker posts and calm sea under overcast sky in Yoko Naito's Unbeknown series
Snowy beach with rows of wooden posts extending toward the sea, bordered by a white fence under overcast winter sky
A yellow and blue playground structure with a yellow roof sits abandoned on a snowy beach under an overcast sky
Snow-covered beach with wooden fence posts stretching toward a pier disappearing into mist under grey winter sky
Tall yellow construction crane standing alone on a snow-covered beach with a small red structure nearby and metal railings visible in the minimalist winter landscape
Minimalist drawing of stick figures and playground equipment scattered across a snowy landscape under grey winter sky
A brown dog walks across a snowy beach with a red flag marker visible on the horizon beneath an overcast sky
A snow-covered beach with metal railings and gates stretching into white mist under an overcast sky
Snow-covered shoreline with bare trees lining a frozen beach and wooden pier structures along the water's edge
Snow-covered beach with dark fencing and metal railings stretching across the white expanse under an overcast sky
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