KUSUKAZU URAGUCHI
SHIMA NO AMA
Published by Atelier EXB in 2024
First edition
Book size 22 x 27cm
160 pages
Hardcover
Language English
For centuries, ama - Japanese diver-fisherwomen - have fed the Japanese imagination. These snorkelers collect abalone, shellfish and seaweed, the sale of which ensures their financial independence at home. Kusukazu Uraguchi (1922-1988) has been photographing them in the Shima region along Japan's Pacific coast since the mid-1950s, and for over thirty years. The fruit of extensive research among almost 40,000 negatives - almost all of them previously unpublished - this remarkable archive of landscapes, portraits and underwater views recounts both the daily life and the special place of the ama community within Japanese society.
Uraguchi's images speak as much of cultural heritage as of modernity, as these communities have undergone profound changes in the wake of the wave of urbanization that swept Japan after the war. His photographic language - the plastic strength of his contrasting blacks and whites, his sense of decadence, gestures captured in their spontaneity - celebrates the freedom of bodies, solidarity and the spirit of independence.
To shed light on the many facets of this work, the visual corpus is accompanied by a text by Sonia Voss that reveals the mysterious world of this community, and a text by Chihiro Minato that places this work in the history of photography. A glossary, inspired by the writings of Japanese ethnologist Kiyoko Segawa and dedicated to the world of fishing and these divers, reveals all the richness and technicality of their discipline.
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For several centuries, the ama – Japanese female fishermen-divers – have fueled the Japanese imagination. These free divers collect abalone, shells and seaweed, the sale of which ensures their financial independence within their households. Since the mid-1950s and for more than thirty years, Kusukazu Uraguchi (1922-1988) photographed them in the Shima region, along the Pacific coast of Japan. The result of extensive research among nearly 40,000 negatives – almost all of them unpublished – this remarkable archive of landscapes, portraits and underwater views tells the story of both the daily life and the special place of the ama community within Japanese society.
Uraguchi's images speak of cultural heritage as much as of modernity, as these communities have undergone profound changes following the wave of urbanization that swept through Japan after the war. His photographic language - the plastic force of his contrasting blacks and whites, his sense of deframing, the gestures captured in their spontaneity - celebrates the freedom of bodies, solidarity and the spirit of independence.
To illuminate the multiple facets of this work, the visual corpus is accompanied by a text by Sonia Voss that reveals the mysterious world of this community, as well as a text by Chihiro Minato that places this work in the history of photography. A glossary, inspired by the writings of Japanese ethnologist Kiyoko Segawa and dedicated to the world of fishing and these divers, reveals all the richness and technicality of their discipline.