"Japanese city gives back photo award stripped in connection with girl’s suicide"

Image and text from The Japan Times, 10/19/16.

A northeastern Japanese city buckled under public criticism and decided Wednesday to hand back a cancelled photography award despite the subject of the winner’s artwork being a girl who was bullied into committing suicide.

The city of Kuroishi, Aomori Prefecture, had stripped the winning photographer of his award because he had unwittingly submitted a photo featuring a dancing and smiling 13-year-old Rima Kasai, who later took her own life.

Kuroishi Mayor Ken Takahi told a news conference, “We would like to deeply apologize to her bereaved family.”

After the withdrawal of the award on Monday, Kasai’s family released both her name and the award-winning image in the hope it would bring attention to the issue of bullying, saying they want people to see their daughter smiling.

The photo was taken in Kuroishi on Aug. 15, 10 days before Kasai jumped to her death from a train platform. The girl had left a suicide note asking that her tormentors never bully again.

Unaware of the girl’s fate, the photographer later submitted his photo to a contest linked to the Kuroishi Yosare festival.

Despite the family giving its consent to the handing out of the accolade, the contest’s executive committee withdrew the mayor’s award after protests from within their organization.

Kasai committed suicide while in her second year of junior high school. She had been bullied by her classmates via a messaging app for more than a year before her death.

Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/10/19/national/japanese-city-gives-back-photo-award-stripped-connection-girls-suicide/

A sad story indeed. I think the issue behind the withdrawal of the photo award wasn't so much out of respect for the privacy of the family but rather to cover up the bullying in the city and school. I admire the family for going public and offer my deepest sympathies for their loss.

Announcement: The Royal Anthropological Institute's Body Canvas Photography Competition‏

I recently received information about this interesting photo contest dealing with the body as canvas. The submissions they are looking for are Engaging photographs that explore biological, cross-cultural and social elements of body art and modification in relation to these categories:

1) Tattoos and Scarification
2) Piercings and Body Reshaping

Deadline for submissions 30th September 2012.

For further information and submission guidelines please visit: www.discoveranthropology.org.uk

Take a look at previous photo competitions on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raieducation

Kameraoke: Photographic Democracy

Visual Anthropology of Japan recently participated in a photo exhibition in Osaka called Kameraoke. Here is a brief description of the event, as advertised in the Kansai Scene Magazine:

Kameraoke 5, Osaka, Dec 12: Kameraoke is back for its fifth edition. Don’t miss Kansai’s largest annual photo event — on for one day only. See great photos, meet the photographers and vote on your favourite shots. Cool prizes, delicious food, great music and a lot of fun. Time: 3pm (door open) Admission:¥1,000 (at the door)  Where: Café Absinthe, Osaka.

Kameraoke is a combination of the words camera and karaoke, suggesting the fun, participatory nature of the photo exhibition/event. It seems to go along with Susan Sontag's idea that photography is like sex and dancing - it is an activity that everybody does, hopefully in a social setting.

There were four broad categories for the contest: shapes, sizes, colors and and numbers; within each category were subcategories. For example, within colors there were colorful characters, black boots, red light district, orange, flashy and so on. I submitted 10 photographs and three were chosen to be displayed for the contest.  The image above shows some of the photos that were displayed outside of the cafe. The bottom left photo is mine, under the category of colorful character.

More photos on display. There were all kinds and qualities of shots, from casual snapshots to artistic compositions. The photo on the bottom left of the dancers is mine under the category of orange. People who came to the event voted for their favorite photo in each category. Winners were announced at the end of the event.

Sixty six photographers submitted over one thousand photos for the contest. Each photographer had at least 2 or 3 photos selected for display. According to one of the organizers, photos on display and for the contest were chosen because they felt they best represented each category. Some categories were popular and had many entries. I was pleased with the three photos of mine they chose, especially because they were all of people (I am an anthropologist after all...). Two of the shots were the results of long term fieldwork (the dancers, also featured in a previous VAOJ post, were in a public performance I was lucky enough to stumble upon).

 

All submitted photos were displayed on a big screen at the front of the cafe. In the rear a DJ was spinning music. Café Absinthe was an appropriate setting for such a hip event.

My second photo on display on the big screen.

My third photo, under the category of red light district, on display on the big screen. You might recognize this photo from a recent VAOJ post.

One of the organizers announcing the winners of each category. In addition to the four winners, a photographer who entered a photo for every subcategory was also honored. While VAOJ did not win any of the categories, I was still honored to be a part of this democratic photo exhibition. Many thanks to the organizers and all participants.

Link to Kameraoke blog: http://www.kameraoke.com/

Link to a story about Kameraoke in Kansai Scene Magazine:
http://www.kansaiscene.com/2004_11/html/news.shtml

The RAI's 'Meaning of Water' Photo Contest

I received an e-mail from my former student with the following information:

Something of interest to your vis anth students I'm sure...

Royal Anthropological Institute is having a photo contest on "The Meaning of Water".

The prize may not seem like much (25 pounds in Amazon giftcard form) but it's a published photo and open to undergrads!

For details click on the link below. Seems like there is a lot of water around here so therefore many opportunities for good water-related photos. Thanks, Richard!

http://www.discoveranthropology.org.uk/your-space/99-photos-.html