Artist talk with Kosuke Okahara

Sun 26 Feb 2023, 08 pm – 09:30 pm
NEO-
393/7 Hai Bà Trưng, Ward 8, D.3, HCMC
Registration link

From the organizer:

Kosuke Okahara will share his photography journey, from his early social documentary projects to the recent struggle to make new work, being open about accomplishments as well as mistakes. Having “fallen out of love” with photography after working professionally for over a decade, Okahara stated that his latest oeuvre “Blue Affair” helps resolve his conflict with the term ‘documentary’, as he questioned himself sometimes whether he is illustrating the stories rather than documenting what is taking place. Presented as a photobook and experimental film, “Blue Affair” chronicles Okahara’s random encounters and recurring dreams of a strange town in Okinawa, Japan. It won the 2022 World Press Photo award in the Open Format category.

About the photographer

Kosuke Okahara (1980) is a documentary photographer based in Japan. In 2004, he began pursuing a long-term project called ‘Ibasyo’ about Japanese girls who self-harm, which won the W. Eugene Smith Fellowship in 2010. He has received several awards and grants including Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography, Prix Kodak, and The Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Grant.
Okahara is represented by Polka Galerie, Paris and Only Photography, Berlin. His work has been exhibited in various venues including museums, galleries and international photo festivals, such as Kunsthal Rotterdam, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, C/O Berlin, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Paris Photo, AIPAD, and Kyotographie. He has published six monographs and several art books. In 2020, returning to the community where he grew up, he started the PITCH GRANT initiative, an annual grant for lens-based emerging artists.

*Language: English

This event is kindly supported by the Embassy of Netherlands in Vietnam.

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