New Book!「The Art of Getting By: Wisdom and Resilience from China’s Migrant Women」by Kevin Ming

My friend and colleague Kevin Ming has published his new book, The Art of Getting By: Wisdom and Resilience from China’s Migrant Women (Algora Publishing 2026). Here is a brief description from the publisher:

Sound Bite

A work that is simultaneously ethnographic fieldwork, social theory, and intimate portraiture, The Art of Getting By takes us into a hidden world and nestles in, learning some of the ways people keep themselves intact in tough circumstances.

Introduction

The Art of Getting By: Wisdom and Resilience from China's Migrant Women invites readers into the disappearing alleyways and vibrant communities of southern China's urban villages, offering an intimate look at the lives of poor migrant women navigating worlds of exposure and exploitation. Through what Kevin David Ming calls a "vagrant anthropology," this book chronicles two decades of walking, listening, and storying with women who work in the sexual labor industry, primarily in falang (hair salon brothels), but also beyond, in China, Malaysia, and Thailand.

This unique narrative gathers fragments of life—snatches of song, shared meals, daily gossip, and poignant personal histories—to illuminate the ingenuity, resilience, and complex desires of its subjects. We meet Wangjing, whose dreams of a modern kitchen reflect aspirations for respectability and security for her family. We learn from Qi Qi about the careful art of "fishing" for customers in upscale hotel bars, a delicate dance of observation and performance. Christine's story reveals a love for literature and a quiet determination to write her own future, even amidst challenging circumstances. These women, often dismissed or stereotyped, are shown to be adept at forming connections and finding temporary inhabitance in worlds designed for their estrangement.

Beyond individual portraits, the book uncovers the broader forces shaping these lives: the relentless pace of urban development that obliterates communities, the "cannibalizing capitalist present" that scavenges on networks of care, and the enduring weight of filial obligations. It challenges conventional notions of hope, offering instead a vision of "present hope"—an energetic continuance born from struggle and the indeterminacy of an uncertain future.

For more information: https://www.algora.com/product/the-art-of-getting-by/

"Mari Katayama wins inaugural Mori Art Prize"

Photo source: https://www.akionagasawa.com/en/artist/mari-katayama/GINZA/

Mari Katayama received the inaugural Mori Art Award grand prize at a ceremony at the Roppongi Hills Club in Tokyo on Feb. 26. This biennial award for Japan-based, mid-career artists comes with a ¥10 million monetary prize and the opportunity to hold an exhibition at the Mori Art Museum. It is among the largest payouts for a single contemporary artist in Japan, surpassing the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award, which distributes ¥3 million each to two artists.
...
Katayama, 39, works with analog photography and handicraft practices such as embroidery and needlework, designing and handsewing objects she attaches to her body that she then captures in self-portraits. Her creations challenge preconceptions about the human body, disability, gender, nature, beauty and fashion. She was born with tibial hemimelia, a congenital condition affecting limb development, which resulted in a cleft hand and the amputation of both her legs at age 9. On her website, she describes the core of her artistic practice as “living every day within her own body, which she uses as a living sculpture, mannequin and lens through which to reflect society.”

Read the whole story at The Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2026/03/02/art/mori-art-museum-prize/

Mari Katayama | 片山真理 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katayamari/

New Resource: Behind the Camera

Introduction (from the source):

Behind the Camera is an open-source website that creates new critical directions on the history of photography, feminist art history, and the history of modern Japan. It is a pedagogical tool for the growing global investment in diverse and expanded histories of photography and gender studies.

Part database, part teaching module, the website’s primary resource is a series of short lecture videos created by experts in the field, each re-examining an aspect of the history of photography from a feminist lens. The videos are a part of exploration modules that include translated primary source materials, annotated bibliographies, and high-resolution images that make research opportunities available to a wider audience. These resources are linked to an interactive timeline that charts the activities and accomplishments of women photographers alongside major events in Japanese and photo history. The result of five years of collaborative information gathering from libraries around the world, these resources bring together disparate information on women and photography in Japan, so that scholars and students can use it to draw connections and produce new scholarship on this important, understudied subject.

Cushman, Carrie and Kelly McCormick, eds. Behind the Camera 1.0: Gender, Power, and Politics in the History of Japanese Photography. 2022. https://behindthecamerajapan.arts.ubc.ca/. Accessed August 11, 2022.

URL: https://behindthecamerajapan.arts.ubc.ca/

See also (less academic): Rare Historical Photos - Photographs that document the Japan’s transformation in the 1950s

URL: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/japan-photos-1950s/

Seminar about the Takarazuka Revue Company @ the Japan Foundation, London

Image borrowed from the Japan Foundation, London.

Paul at the Japan Foundation, London, sent me this very interesting announcement:

This special event commemorating the 100th anniversary of Takarazuka provides an opportunity to cultivate a cross-cultural understanding of the theatre company through discussion. Beginning with a brief talk by Dr Nobuko Anan, a lecturer in Japanese studies at Birkbeck, University of London, regarding the history and characteristics of Takarazuka, she will be joined by Noriko Tosaka (aka Ai Otohara) and Machiko Nakano (aka Reo Kazami), two distinguished former Takarazuka performers, as well as Jano Williams, co-director of the documentary Dream Girls (1994). Tosaka and Nakano will reflect on their past experiences inside the exclusive, fiercely competitive company whose practices have remained largely unchanged for a century. As arguably one the first filmmakers outside of Japan to capture the elite world of Takarazuka, Williams, a British filmmaker, will speak about their motives for making their insightful film, and what they observed through the camera behind the scenes of the dazzling revue.

Following the discussion, the former Takarazuka performers will take part in a short demonstration illustrating the distinct form of male and female characterisations that the company is so well known for.

Date: 27 June 2014 from 6.30pm
Venue: The Japan Foundation, London

For more information: http://www.jpf.org.uk/whatson.php#658

There's a lot of other interesting and exciting events going on at the Japan Foundation. If you are in London, check them out!

http://www.jpf.org.uk/

SPARROW: Sound & Pictive Archive for Research on Women

This project and website was recently announced in H-ASIA. While not necessarily related to Japan (it seems to focus on Indian women) it is still an interesting application of visual anthropology. Here is a partial description from its own homepage:

SPARROW is:

A trust set up in 1988 [Register Number E-11958] in Maharashtra to build a national archives for women with print, oral history and pictorial material.

A live archives reaching out to schools, colleges, women's groups and other organisations.

An active agent of conscientisation.

A forum for discussions.

An interactive space

A daring flight into unexplored areas of experience and expression.

SPARROW believes:

That recording, reviewing, recollecting and reflecting on women's history and life and communicating this information in various ways is an important activity in development.

That change is possible with knowledge and awareness -- of women's lives, history and struggles for self-respect and human dignity.

Check it out:
http://www.sparrowonline.org/index.htm