Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Depicting the World of Kamuy - Portraits of the Ainu - Talk by Makiko Ui


Makiko Ui is a Tokyo-based photographer who has been pursuing the lives of the Ainu of Japan, an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture. Striving to capture the forgotten lives of the Ainu for 20 years, Ui’s ethnographic photographs act as captivating yet sensitive accounts of the history and people, and have led her to receive the ‘Special Photographer Award’ for her exhibition and book ‘Ainu: Portrait of the Wind’ at the 28th Higashikawa Awards.

In this special illustrative talk, Ui will talk about her exclusive passion towards the Ainu as a subject matter and what she aims to achieve through documenting its people and culture. Joined in conversation with Dr Ricardo Leizaola, Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London, they will also explore the various issues in dealing with, as a photographer, non-posing subjects which could be socially and ethnically marginalized, and to what degree these acts of documenting can be shared with an anthropological approach.


Date: 30 July 2013, 6:00 PM Venue: The Japan Foundation, London Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk

An exhibition of Makiko Ui’s work ‘Ainu, Portrait of the Wind’ will be held at the National Geographic London Store from 27 July 2013 to 27 August 2013. For further details, please visit www.nglondonstore.co.uk


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