Dundee seen through the lens of a 20,000 photo collage

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Media caption,

Timelapse of Dundee photo collage artwork being put together by Sohei Nishino.

A photographic collage of Dundee stitched together from 20,000 pictures has gone on display in the city.

The 5m (16ft) wide work was created by Japanese photographer Sohei Nishino, who lived in the city for a month for the V&A Dundee commission.

It includes Dundee's football grounds, pubs, historic sites, and local people at work and leisure.

It is the latest in Nishino's Diorama Map series, which includes New York, San Francisco and Johannesburg.

Image source, Julie Howden
Image caption,
Sohei Nishino spent a month in the city taking 20,000 photographs for his Dundee Diorama
Image source, Sohei Nishino
Image caption,
The city's football grounds are featured in the new collage

On his return to Japan, he spent weeks creating the Dundee Diorama by hand, assembling thousands of photographs.

Nishino said: "Dundee is the smallest city I have worked in, but the final result was bigger than many of the other cities because I focused more on the people and events.

"If you look at a city from a bird's eye view, it will just flow by you.

"By walking and exploring together with local people, I believe I was able to create a work that captures the landscape from multiple points of view."

Image source, Sohei Nishino
Image caption,
Dundee landmarks like the Desperate Dan sculpture and City Square also feature
Image source, Troy Nelson

The photographer said he did not have any preconceptions of Dundee before he arrived there last autumn.

He said: "With New York and Shanghai, all the big cities around the world, I had information on what kind of city it is.

"With Dundee, it's such a small city, I didn't have any impression of it before coming in.

"I was actually a bit nervous before coming here to discover what kind of city it was."

Image source, Sohei Nishino
Image caption,
The photographer captured shots of Morgan Academy and the Ladywell Circle

Rather than setting his own schedule, Nishino asked the local community to guide him.

He said: "I think it would have been a very different if I hadn't.

"It was very important for me to see the city and have the live experience there.

"V&A supported me to be able to meet the people every day and choose where I would go."

Image source, Sohei Nishino
Image caption,
Local bowlers were photographed by Nishino during his stay in Dundee

He said one of the highlights of his stay was the River Tay.

He said: "Hopping on the boat and seeing the city from the river was such a great experience.

"And also the pub, the football and having two stadiums in one street, that was an amazing thing to see."

The collage is part of V&A Dundee's free Photo City exhibition, which runs until 29 October.

Image source, Sohei Nishino

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