Home Interviews Documentary photographer Q. Sakamaki
Documentary photographer Q. Sakamaki
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Q. Sakamaki is a New York based Japanese documentary photographer, focusing on human conditions and socio-economic issues nearly for 30 years, often those in war/ conflict zones.
"In such coverage, my aim is not only portraying what is really happening, but also exploring identity, citizenship and sense of belonging. By doing so, I would like to further explore what humans are and where humans are heading in the future. I have been fortunate that my photographs have appeared in books and magazines worldwide, have been the subject of solo shows, and have been recognised with a number of international awards, including the World Press Photo award (2007) and two Overseas Press Club prizes (2010 & 2007.) I have published five books, including WAR DNA, covering seven deadly conflicts and Tompkins Square Park, depicting New York's socio-economical, anti-gentrification movement. I hold a master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. I am also an educator. Every summer, for more than 8 years, I teach photo-documentary at the workshop at Tokyo Photo Museum. I'm co-founder of the Instagram gallery Hikari Creative. I'm represented by Redux Picture.
My philosophy towards work is: to listen to the locals and share their human conditions as much as possible."
What or who first attracted you to covering conflict? Tell us how you got started.
There might be two big factors — one: my father, the other: Japan's society itself. My father was a banker. He could be an icon for Japan's typical businessmen or workers during the rapid economic growing time — the 1960s and 1970s. He was a smart, diligent, hard working person, and in general extremely kind and generous to others. However, when it came to talking about war, he often became irrational and emotional. Or conversely he blinded himself, especially for Japan's involved war legacy, such as its occupation of Korea and much of China, often despising those of Japan's neighbours without any reason. I understand him. He lost his childhood due to WWII. During that time what he learned most might have been just conformity. Being against the government or society was then regarded as crime. However, such a conformity-orientated nature or tendency continuously exists as Japan's real war legacy, among my generation, even further in the younger one, (though nobody thinks that speaking out a different view is a crime now). This is why I would like to explore war. By doing so, I would like to see somehow what human nature is.
It was Haiti in 1992 when I went to the so-called conflict or crisis area for the first time. I went there because I wanted to cover the oversea issues, and one of my friends, a radio reporter in New York, was also interested in Haiti. So, we just decided to go. In the slums of capital Port au Prince extreme poverty and violence were rampant due to the political oppression. Yet the international community blinded the military regime's violent acts and consequently, sometimes intentionally, it helped the regime keep its power. Since then, I have been more exploring such nature of human beings by often covering war/conflict zones.
Eman Al-Najar, 23, saw her home in Khoza'a in Khan Yunis destroyed and her brother killed by Israel Defense Forces during the summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. She still stays in a tent with her family on the site of this damaged home. Despite the difficulty, she cannot leave, since there is no other place to move, or too expensive. And virtually nobody has come to help yet. Oct/ 10/ 2014
What is the item you can't survive without in the field?
Besides from physically very important items, such as money and water, it is the spirit of 'never give up.' If you don't have it, you may have more chances to reach no return —death.
What makes your approach different to getting attention from editors?
I nearly always try to tell something beyond the story with my possible signature on my work — often very dark, but also trying poetic and aesthetic. Combining those conflicting elements together could be a metaphor of the story, since the reality of what is happening is often very complicated. By doing so, I would like to bring editors and any person to the real life beyond the photography.
Abed Raboo Mussa Abu Jama'a, 67, and his 65-year-old wife Mazuna Abu Jama'a saw their home in Khan Yunis destroyed by artillery and air strikes during the summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. They stay in a tent on the site of their damaged home. Despite the difficulty, they cannot leave, since there is no other place for them to move. Oct/ 08/ 2014
Describe that item you carry around with you all the time and never use.
Rain sleeves (Plastic sleeves for camera protection from rain). Instead of them, I often find myself using a rain parka.
55 year old taxi driver Mohamed Abu Jama'a poses next to his destroyed mercedes taxi and home in Khan Yunis due to Israeli airstrike and bulldozers during the summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. He has to still live at the site, since there is no place else for him to move, or too expensive for the rent after the war. Al-Zana'a in Khan Yunis, Oct/ 08/ 2014
What media/news/feeds do you follow and why?
BBC and the New York Times. These have less bias and give me a broader view even in the underreported news events, compared to other international media. At the same time, I, as much as possible, check the voices of local journalists and/ or NGOs because of their deeper knowledge.
Sobheya Hamid Abu Mutlag, 59, poses at her home in Khan Yunis, destroyed by Israeli airstrike during the 2014 summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. Despite the serious damage, she cannot leave, since there is no place else to move, or too expensive for the rent after the war. Khan Yunis, Oct/ 04/ 2014.
How do you measure risk and how do you protect yourself?
My instinct and local people's advice and then my own analysis. And to hang out with trusted locals — in other words, not by alone, though that's sometimes impossible. Plus, to keep the spirit of 'never give up,' as mentioned at the above.
Describe your most rewarding career moment.
Probably a moment when my presence was very welcomed and I was treated like a family member, or often more than that, by local people, despite the fact that their living situations were extremely miserable and desperate, or even that it was just after some of their family members were killed or their houses were destroyed. Of course, many do so because they want help. But in many cases, they give strangers incredible hospitality, because by doing so, they could share a sense of being alive, and because through such a sense they can feel hope. Having such a moment is really priceless. It happened many times in many parts of deadly conflict zones, like Afghanistan, Kosovo, Palestine, etc.
Safia Mohamed Al-Najar, 47, and her 25 year old son Fadi Al-Najar saw their home in Khan Yunis destroyed by artillery and airstrike during the summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. Despite the fact the house is in the dangerous condition, they have to stay, since there is no place else for them to move, or too expensive to do so. And virtually no body has come to help them yet. The son was supposed to marry soon, but it was canceled. Khoza'a in Khan Yunis, Oct/10/2014
Tell us about your most recent assignment or work.
Gaza: Living in Ruins — It is a night portrait series of people in Gaza who lived in their destroyed homes after they were damaged during the 2014 summer's 50-day war between Israel and Hamas (and Islamic Jihad). Many of them remained in their houses in the ruins and in extremely dangerous conditions. It was because there was no space for them to move to or it's too expensive to rent after the war. Virtually no one came to help them. That was why so many people were continuously living in the damaged houses or tents or shacks in the ruins at the same places as before the war. I photographed these images at night intentionally to highlight the situation, since the act of sleep indicates that the person still lives there.
Soad Abd Rabo Al-Zaza, 65, despite her paralyzed leg, poses at her destroyed house due to Israeli air strike during the summer's 50 day's war between Israel and Hamas, as she still lives in (with her husband and other family members). Despite the fact the house is in a very dangerous condition — it further becomes 40 cm down recently, there is no place to move, and virtually nobody has come to help yet. Alshjaia, Gaza City, Oct/ 06/ 2014.
More from Q. Sakamaki:
www.qsakamaki.com
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gaza-life-persists-amid-the-rubble
http://fence.photoville.com/2015/q-sakamaki-gaza-living-in-ruins/
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/q-sakamaki-gaza-living-in-ruins
@qsakamaki
@hikari.creative
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