A Port Town Elegy (1 of 5)

By 1983, Mao Ishikawa was running a bar near Aja-Shinko, a port area of Okinawa’s capital city, Naha. Speaking the Okinawan language, she became close with the heavy-drinking local anglers and dockworkers who frequented the establishment. Their rough, precarious lives became the subject of her second book, ‘A Port Town Elegy’ (1990). Shot between 1983 and 1986, Ishikawa’s photographs are portraits of figures on the margins of Japanese society as they work, drink and fight. ‘Scary-looking guys’, she described them, in ‘a man’s world’ with few prospects, but ‘filled with humanity’.

For over 40 years, photographer Mao Ishikawa has documented daily life in her home of Okinawa. Ishikawa was born and raised in a society under occupation, and came of age during the island’s ‘Reversion’ from US control to Japanese sovereignty in 1972. Okinawa experienced some of the worst fighting of World War Two, resulting in 90 per cent of its buildings being razed, and the loss of almost half its population. Subsequent US occupation, which lasted 20 years longer than it did in mainland Japan, was deeply unpopular. The Reversion also provoked deeper questions about the nature of Okinawan identity as a culture distinct from that of mainland Japan.

Through photography, Ishikawa explores Okinawa’s complex racial and sexual politics. Her images focus on individuals and communities from across Okinawan society, from shopkeepers and farmers to more marginal figures, like nightclub workers and day labourers. Soldiers figure prominently, as do the frequent protests by locals against the US bases; however, Ishikawa photographs from a perspective of genuine friendship and empathy, as she explains: ‘I hate the US military, but I love US soldiers’.

As the works from across the artist’s career demonstrate, Ishikawa’s images convey the strong emotional connections that characterise what she terms ‘Okinawa soul’, and the works highlight her unique approach to the complicated history of her homeland.

(1 of 5)

Exhibited in 'The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT9) | 24 Nov 2018 – 28 Apr 2019