Kosuke Okahara

Okahara was born in Tokyo, Japan. After a period of training and competing in freestyle skiing at the international level, he{{Cite web|title = NYTimes.com Search|url = https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/%2522Kosuke+Okahara%2522/|website = query.nytimes.com|accessdate = 2016-01-03}} studied education at Waseda University. Upon obtaining his degree, he embarked on a career as a photographer, alternating between news- reporting and long-term personal projects. His initial trip led him to Sudan (2004), Burma (2007), China (2007), as well as his first trip to Colombia (2006).

In 2004, he began "Ibasyo" a long-term photographic essay{{Cite web|title = Video: Photographer Kosuke Okahara on Japanese Women Who Cut Themselves|url = http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/video-photographer-kosuke-okahara-japanese-women-who-cut-themselves|website = Asia Society|accessdate = 2016-01-02}} on adolescent self-harm in Japan. Japanese society generally ignores this phenomenon as it considers it to be shameful. Okahara took on the pluralistic roles of photographer, close friend, witness, and social worker. One of his series that he photographed in Colombia has been published and exhibited as a part of "100 years of Leica photography".

Other topics he has photographed are the Arab Spring, the chaos on the Russian periphery,{{Cite web|title = Pictures of Transnistria: An Unrecognized State Caught Between Past and Present|url = https://time.com/3781094/snapshots-of-transnistria-an-unrecognized-state-caught-between-past-and-present/|website = Time|access-date = 2016-01-02|first = Mark|last = Rykoff}}{{Cite web|title = In Sochi's Shadow|url = http://europe.newsweek.com/sochis-shadow-225596?rm=eu|website = Newsweek|accessdate = 2016-01-02}} and migrants around Calais in 2008. Since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, he documents the region devastated by the disaster with a particular attention given to the signs of time.{{Cite web|title = Fragments of Fukushima|url = http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/fragments-of-fukushima/?_r=0|website = New York Times - Lens Blog|accessdate = 2016-01-02}} This latter work is the subject of a book, Fukushima Fragments (2015).{{Cite web|title = Fukushima, Fragments - Kosuke Okahara|url = http://www.editionsdelamartiniere.fr/ouvrage/fukushima-fragments/9782732470009|website = www.editionsdelamartiniere.fr|accessdate = 2016-01-02}}

Okahara was a member of Agence VU' between 2007 and 2010.{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}}

• Contact #1 -Any given day-. Backyard Project, 2013.
• Vanishing Existence. Backyard Project, 2013.
• Ibasyo Book Journey. Handependent, 2014.
• Almost Paradise. Only Photography, 2014.
• Fukushima Fragments. France: Martinière, 2015. {{ISBN|978-2732470009}}.
• Ibasyo. Japan: Kousakusha, 2018. {{ISBN|978-4875024903}}.
• blue affair. Japan: THE BACKYARD, 2020

• 2008: Overseas Training Grant for Emerging Artist, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese Government
• 2008: Special Mention, Prix Kodak
• 2009: Photo District News PDN's 30
• 2009: Sony World Photography Awards
• 2009: World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass
• 2010: Fellowship, W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant{{Cite web|title = Darcy Padilla receives $30,000 W. Eugene Smith photography grant|url = http://pmanewsline.com/2010/10/21/darcy-padilla-received-30000-w-eugene-smith-photography-grant/#.VofyNjb0S6o|website = pmanewsline.com|accessdate = 2016-01-02}}
• 2012: Finalist, European Publishers Award
• 2012: Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography, Perpignan{{Cite web|title = Getty Awards $80,000 to Four Photojournalists at Perpignan|url = https://time.com/51703/getty-awards-80000-to-four-photojournalists-at-perpignan/|website = Time|access-date = 2016-01-02|first = Vaughn|last = Wallace}}
• 2013: Festival Photoreporter en Baie de Saint-Brieuc Grant
• 2014: Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award, Perpignan{{Cite news|title = Award-winning photographer vows to continue work with Colombia's drug gangs|url = http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/04/national/award-winning-photographer-vows-to-continue-work-with-colombias-drug-gangs/|newspaper = The Japan Times Online|date = 2015-02-04|access-date = 2016-01-02|issn = 0447-5763|language = en-US|first = Takuya|last = Hatakeyama}}
• 2017 · Saint-Brieuc Festival Grant
• 2021 · Jury's Special Mention, 20th Las Palmas de Grand Canaria International Film Festival
• 2021 · Best Contemporary Experimental Short, 16th Sapporo International Short Film Festival
• 2022 · Regional Prize - Asia, Open format category, World Press Photo

{{BLP sources section|date=March 2017}}

• Resistance, Nikon Salon, Tokyo, 2005; Nikon Salon, Osaka, Japan, 2005; Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, Bangkok, 2006.
• Ibasyo, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2011.{{Cite web|title = Ibasyo - Kunsthal|url = http://www.kunsthal.nl/en/exhibitions/Kosuke-Okahara/|website = www.kunsthal.nl|accessdate = 2016-01-02|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160120231510/http://www.kunsthal.nl/en/exhibitions/Kosuke-Okahara/|archive-date = 2016-01-20|url-status = dead}}
• Surviving for existence – Abkhazia, the country that doesn't exist,.{{Cite web|title = Kosuke Okahara - Festival Photoreporter|url = http://www.festival-photoreporter.fr/en/kosuke-okahara/|website = Festival Photoreporter|accessdate = 2016-01-02|language = en-GB}} Festival Photoreporter, Saint-Brieuc, France, 2013.
• Fukushima Fragments, Photo Antalya, Antalya, Turkey, 2015.
• Almost Paradise, Only Photography Gallery, Berlin, 2015.
• Fukushima Fragments, Polka Gallery, Paeis, 2016.

• 100 years of Leica Photography, House of Photography, Hamburg, Germany, 2015;{{Cite web|title = 100 years of Leica|url = http://deichtorhallen.de/index.php?id=403&L=1|website = deichtorhallen.de|publisher = Kehrer Vertag|accessdate = 2016-01-02|first = Deichtorhallen|last = Hamburg}} C/O Berlin, Berlin, 2015.{{Cite web|title = Eyes Wide Open!|url = http://www.co-berlin.org/en/eyes-wide-open|website = C/O Berlin|accessdate = 2016-01-02}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|www.kosukeokahara.com}}
• [http://www.polkagalerie.com/fr/kosuke-okahara-biographie.htm Polka Galerie, Paris]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhL7XSHBvAc/ A documentary film by Japanese NHK.] (2015)
• [http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/video-photographer-kosuke-okahara-japanese-women-who-cut-themselves/ "Ibasyo" -Okahara's long term project on Asia Society website]

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Category:1980 births

Category:Living people

Category:Japanese photojournalists

Category:Waseda University alumni