Thirty years ago, Q. Sakamaki started taking photos of the artists and anarchists resisting gentrification in NYC.
Link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywkxgb/q-sakamaki-photographer-tompkins-square-park-riots-1988
Thirty years ago this week, Q. Sakamaki began taking photos of the artists and anarchists resisting gentrification in New York City.
Months after the summer conflict between Hamas and Israel, Q
via LensCulture: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/q-sakamaki-gaza-living-in-ruins
I traveled to Gaza in the aftermath to witness the devastation for myself. I took a series of portraits of people living in the ruins of what used to be their homes. I intentionally shot them at night because my conceptual motif for this story is that these people have experienced the darkness of Gaza’s devastation physically and psychologically. This is something I want to shed light on.
Sakamaki was returned to the group and told he was going to be arrested — “They said, ‘You know why.’”
“I said, ‘For being a journalist and taking pictures?’ They said, ‘Yes.’”
Link: Q. Sakamaki recounts fear and beatings during detainment in Egypt | dvafoto
From the American Photo site:
Paolo Pellegrin, Q. Sakamaki, Kristen Ashburn and Farah Nosh took the photography prizes at the 68th Annual Overseas Press Club awards, presented by CBS News anchor Katie Couric at a dinner Thursday night in New York. Pellegrin won the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal for his photo essay “True Pain: Israel and Hizbullah,” parts of which were first published in Newsweek. The 43-year-old Magnum photographer received an honorable mention nod for the Capa award in 2002, but this is his first outright win.
Paolo’s work (a sample above) is beautiful black and white. Beginning with his book “Kosovo 1999-2000,” I began to watch his technique. Or rather, a seeming lack of it. Paolo isn’t looking for sharp, clean imagery. He is more interested in capturing mood and motion than perfect technique.
Along those lines, one of Q. Sakamaki’s photographs (above) stood out to me as well. Especially the caption, which reads:
The image of a Sri Lanka government soldier is accidentally overlapped with the image of a Tamil girl staying at a war-torn church in Jaffna, where the long civil war has devastated lives and the Sri Lankan economy.
See how it works, kids? Make a mistake, win an international award. For the record, I think it’s a beautiful accident.
Links:
Paolo Pellegrin
American Photo’s story on the awards
Overseas Press Club of America