The title works on two levels. “In Perspective” describes Masumi’s technique—multiple photographs assembled into panoramic view, creating a perspective impossible from any single vantage point. But it also suggests something about seeing clearly, about gaining the distance needed to understand.

Cleveland in 1993 desperately needed perspective. The city had lost nearly half its population since 1950. The national jokes—“Mistake on the Lake,” the river that caught fire—still stung. Yet change was coming: Jacobs Field under construction downtown, the Rock Hall in planning, warehouse districts converting to lofts. Cleveland caught between what it had been and what it might become.

Masumi made this work during that pivot point. The exact subject remains unspecified in her records—perhaps a panoramic view of downtown, perhaps a specific neighborhood or landmark. What’s clear is the intention: to capture Cleveland at a moment when seeing clearly mattered, when the city needed to understand its own position between decline and renewal.

The small edition size (only two prints) and the personal nature of one placement suggest this was not a corporate commission but something more intimate. A meditation on a city finding its way forward, made by an artist who had chosen to build her life there.