Wednesday 24 March 2010

Manabu Yamanaka.

Image copyright Manabu Yamanaka

"Of the hundreds of people, I selected 16,
who I believe possess abilities,
which elevate then above normal
human being to a level whose some of the greatness of
Buddha is manifested"
The above was written about his series 'Arakan' which the above portrait is from. Yamanaka's work his hard to look at stuff, hard also for me to understand much of his motivation for doing the work and making the long term series. It's work that comes out of a culture I don't know or understand, but I know that there is something much deeper going on than anything exploitative which if this work had been made by a western photographer I would no doubt now be shouting the toss about along with plenty of others. This work somehow seems, and I hate saying this as it sounds proper wanky, 'spiritual' Is that just me looking at with a daft romantic view and because it comes from 'The East'? I can't put my finger on it.
You can read more about the work HERE and read an interview HERE. Make your own minds up........

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