Akihiko Okamura – The Memories of Others

 

As I found with Whatever You Say, Say Nothing by Gilles Peress (Steidl), The Troubles and their representation are incredibly difficult to write about from the point of view of an outsider. It is a very touchy subject. Even posting about it on social media platforms (as I also found out) will have opposing views of your opinions used against you with accounts flagged for violence and so on. Sectarian war is not to be taken lightly. In trying to find out more about the Irish and English factionalism in Ireland that led to The Troubles, one has to look at the more extended history of the occupation of Ireland to see how such a crisis arose. It did not simply begin because there was a disagreement over variations of Christianity. It is tied up in a much longer history that includes feudal debate, socio-economic policy, and a fight for autonomy in language and custom, amongst other determinations. If you are looking for reading references on the matter, there are plenty, but Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland is a great starting point. The book covers a general feeling of Ireland during The Troubles and its cultural and social impact. Douglas Murray’s Bloody Sunday: Truths, Lies and the Saville Inquiry is also interesting and possibly the author’s least dogmatic work.

 

It is challenging to parse the whole story of Ireland over the last two and a half centuries. That sentiment does preclude a profound sympathy for all Irish families who have had to bear witness to the moment and its continued aftereffects. Just because I can spot the bully Rev. Ian Paisley in a photograph does not make me knowledgeable on the matter of how Ireland or The Troubles are best represented, but this is not the entire point of delving into Akihiko Okamura’s fantastic, if posthumous photobook, The Memories of Others, co-published this year by Atelier EXB and Prestel. Mr. Okamura sadly passed away in 1985, and his photographs of Ireland remained dormant in his estate until recently. His story is fascinating as he seems to have found a home in Ireland during significant instability. After a trip to Ireland in 1968, he left his native Japan in 1969 with his family to relocate to Ireland. A war photographer by trade, if such a trade can be considered, Okamura likely found an incredible missing piece to his life’s work in The Troubles.

 

 

The work in the book seems to stem mainly from the year 1976, which was the year of the Kingsmill Massacre in January, where ten Protestant workmen were killed in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, by members of the South Armagh Republican Action Force. This massacre came directly after loyalists shot dead six Catholic civilians in South Armagh the day before. It was followed by the hottest summer on record. One has to imagine the tension in the air during that year, and you can feel it in Okamura’s photographs. There are apparent signifiers of tension, fire, violence, piles of rubble, and Newell’s GIANT BOMB DAMAGE SALE, which reminds the viewer of the escalation. The book oscillates between the extremes of violence confounded with the everyday goings on around it, with beautiful pictures of the market and tomatoes advertised on shop front glass like a missing Saul Leiter photograph. Other advertisements, such as those of Gordan Graham, a local photographer, are listed within a picture, and a man gets absolute pleasure from Players is noted a billboard over tired British army men. Smoke them if you got them. The two worlds bridged between the realities of war and the continuation of everyday life create a queer and energetic world in Okamura’s photographs.

 

 

This is the kind of posthumous photobook project that is incredibly welcomed. It is accepted as it shows another position from an outsider who found himself amid history and could tease out an understanding of the moment in his slides despite barriers to customs and language. Objective: Okamura covered both sides of the conflict in great detail. Though I would not consider his photographer “insider” by any means, the proximity for which he recorded was intimate. The sequence of the book is also peppered with images of children at play and an emphasis on the occasional golden light photograph, which brings something subject to the order of the book. It also reminds us that conflict, over the twentieth century, can be seen through the everyday use of its image, not just the spectacle of its punctuating circumstance.

 

 

It is rare that a posthumous book like this holds an extended sensitivity and is consumed with getting the sequence into a finite order, as has happened here due in part to Pauline Vermare’s editing. There are qualified passages in the book that build momentum and insist on using the color red as an undergirding for the beginning of the book, making it read as a very intentioned monograph. This is uncommon for projects like this. History often overtakes biography or an artist’s subjectivity when something in the subject matter has great weight. The subjectivity of the artist and how the images are laid out are usually dominated by the story’s telling rather than the sequence’s artistry. Here, you get both convincingly. I can see why it has been shortlisted for the Aperture Award and deserves the nod.

 

In summary, a few books on The Troubles have been produced over the past years. An assessment may be due to time marching on and other wars being fought. If not a time of direct reconciliation, looking back on the war’s ambitions and lives lost on both sides has just enough distance to make these book projects worthwhile. Sometimes, the smoke must clear before you can understand it all. I hope there is more material in Okamura’s holdings and we can see one or two more volumes come to light. He was a talented photographer who had a touch of humanity in his thoughts while making these images. There is more to be learned from his pictures.

 

 

As for the book itself, I am paying more and more attention to Atelier EXB, who seem to have an upward trajectory of producing great books from artists living and deceased and have a solid reputation for making museum catalogs (Photo Museum Ireland for this) much more interesting than some of the more broadly-known corporate publishers. They are big enough to get the work but small enough to retain a sorely lacking sensibility regarding editing, sequencing, and design. Though the English version of this book was published with Prestel, it has the design and sensitivity of being an Atelier EXB-designed book. The book has my highest recommendation.

 

 

Akihiko Okamura

The Memories of Others

Atelier EXB/ Prestel (English Version)

 

 

 

 

 

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