To mark the opening of Japan, outside Japan at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Miyuki Okuyama will discuss with Jonathan Watkins the historical background to and recent events related to her projects Dear Japanese: Children of War (2012-17) and Michinoku Homeward: Walking towards the Northeast (2021).

Dear Japanese: Children of War (2012-17) is a documentary made from her personal point of view as a Japanese individual living in the Netherlands, portraying the children of Japanese soldiers and Dutch-Indonesian women, born during the Pacific War in Indonesia, now living in the Netherlands. In the portraits, the models look straight into our eyes, as if beyond the lens. Their gaze challenges us to see them as they really are. A Dutch/Indo viewer might notice the dissimilarity of appearance to him or herself, while a Japanese viewer might find a striking resemblance. Similarly, the ordinary Dutch landscapes might be very strange in the eyes of the photographer and those photographed. This is a subjective archive of compatriots abroad, sharing with them the complexity of having pride in being Japanese, coupled with feelings of alienation and guilt.

Michinoku Homeward: Walking towards the Northeast (2021) is a very personal documentary about Michinoku, Okuyama’s home region in north-eastern Japan. Michinoku is the ancient name for the area, first appearing in a 7th century chronicle, and means “the end of the road”. 2011 was an unforgettable year of disasters there, including a catastrophic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident, causing more than 22,000 deaths. Okuyama was devastated by her powerlessness as a native of the region living abroad. Ten years later, in 2021, she walked 400km following the Edo period “Kaidо̄” route – officially created at the beginning of the 17th century – from the zero mile point in Tokyo to her home town of Yamagata. Michinoku Homeward is a photo documentary of this trip, combining journalistic topicality and the poetic feelings that occurred to her along the way, capturing her way home with an awareness that it might disappear.

• The webinar will start at 6:30pm (BST), Tuesday 16th April 2024.
• Please note: The booking system for this webinar will close at 5pm (BST) on Monday 15th April, if you would like to sign up after this time, please contact events@dajf.org.uk.

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About the contributors

Miyuki Okuyama

Miyuki Okuyama (Japan/the Netherlands) works on documentary, art photography and photo-book design. With a distinct point of view, as an expatriate Japanese woman, her photographic works often deal with her identity and roots, and how she interacts with others in her new environment. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including Africa Foto Fest (Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 2023), Jakarta International Photo Festival (2022), Salon der Künstler (Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany, 2022), Singapore International Photo Festival (2021), Museum Arnhem (The Netherlands, 2020), “Reimagining War” (Tokyo, Kyoto, 2020) and Cortona on The Move (Photo Festival in Italy, 2017). She has won the Fotografia Europea Book Award (Italy, 2022), the Swiss Photo Three Award (2019, Lugano) and the Cortona on the Move Dummy Award (2016) and been shortlisted for an award for “Unyielding Gaze: Journalistic Portraits” (Kuala Lumpur, 2019) etc. She also contributes photo essays to Japanese news media.

Jonathan Watkins (moderator)

Jonathan Watkins (moderator) is an independent curator and writer and was previously Director of Ikon (1999-2022). Previously he worked for a number of years in London, as Curator of the Serpentine Gallery (1995-1997) and Director of Chisenhale Gallery (1990-1995).He has curated a number of large international exhibitions including the Biennale of Sydney (1998), Facts of Life: Contemporary Japanese Art (Hayward Gallery, London 2001), Quotidiana (Castello di Rivoli, Turin 1999, Tate Triennial (2003), Shanghai Biennale (2006), Sharjah Biennial (2007), Negotiations (Today Art Museum, Beijing 2010) and the Guangzhou Triennial (2012). He was on the curatorial team for Europarte (Venice Biennale, 1997), Milano Europa 2000, (Palazzo di Triennale, Milan 2000), and Riwaq (Palestinian Biennial 2007). He curated the Iraqi Pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2013 and Floating World, Bahrain in 2017. In 2019 Watkins was the curator of Small Between the Stars, Large Against the Sky, the 9th Manif d’art Quebec City Biennial.