Kawakami Hisako

Participation from the beginning of May till the end of July 2016

“Where I could not connect well through words I created an effective way of communicating through taking pictures”

Kawakami Hisako

Kawakami Hisako is a photographer from Tokyo, whom works with an analogue camera. She came to the Netherlands with an interest in the underground movements of the Netherlands (the squatting movement). However, as squatting became prohibited since earlier that year, she could not find a lot of willing participants to photograph. It therefore became unrealistic and Kawakami decided to change her subject. She started photographing homestay families and people who were walking on the street. She was surprised by the fact that the Dutch people were so willing to participate and remarked that it might have been due to her being a foreigner. She also felt that connecting with people through the camera was easier than with words.

Furthermore, Kawakami liked working with the Japanese concept: ichi-go-ichi-ei. Which is a Japanese term that describes a cultural concept that is often translated as “for this time only,” “never again,” or “one chance in a lifetime.” She therefore approached each meeting as a once-in-a-lifetime encounter and cherished each and every meeting through her photography.

All of these pictures were presented during her birthday and from now on she wants to hold a likewise presentation every year on her birthday, wherever that may be.

Kawakami also held workshops during her stay in Amsterdam. In this workshop the participants had to use one of the photographs that she took and write a story about this picture. The picture and the new story would together form a new memory, a re-memory. She later combined this in a book, a diary of new memories.

“I was very pleased to host the young photographer Hisako in my apartment in Amsterdam. She was enthusiastic, ambitious, open-minded and eager to discover Amsterdam and experience the freedom of this city.”

Hinke Bruinsma, artist

Website: http://www.hisakokawakami.com

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *