>> 2010.04.10 [ 2010 Photo Exhibition ]
Dear Everyone -
I was in Japan for 10 days from 3/26 to 4/4. It was so nice to see my children having a great time with their grandparents and great grandma, who just turned 89. It has been almost 4 years since I was there last. We spent 3 days in Tokyo, then moved to Niigata. I also took a day trip to Abashiri, Hokkaido, to see the Museum where Mino's photo exhibition will be held. Below is the details.
Title: "The Call of the Living Earth: Photographs of Australian Aborigines by Minoru Hokari"
Date: 2010.04.29 ~ 2010.06.20
Place: Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples
I have to tell you...this exhibition has been carefully thought out and planned by Irumi Sasakura, who met Mino after his passing through his book "Radical Oral History", found me on the web, and we became good friends. A photographer in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Keiji Tsuyuguchi, who also met Mino through his book, wrote about Mino on his blog. This blog entry inspired Irumi, who works at the Museum, brought me an idea of the exhibition.
In Hokkaido, I met her for the first time after a few years of e-mail only relationship. It is such a beautiful museum in the midst of vast nature. She walked me through the whole exhibition one by one and I found it as an amazingly fulfilling learning experience since it was with her who has extensive knowledge about the subject. Until now, the museum has never dealt with anything other than Northern Peoples such as Ainu and Inuit. It is fascinating to see Mino travels all the way to Hokkaido, a northern part of Japan, to present what he experienced with the Gurindji people.
At the exhibition, you will visit Australia, meet the Gurindji in their country through the pictures that Mino took, read excerpts from his book, and, at the end, you will grasp what Mino learned from the Gurindji and what he wanted to share with the rest of the world.
Thanks again for all your help to make this event possible. It has been a long way...but we did it.
Another Mino project that I am working on is to collect Mino's episodes for the website. If you have any interesting Mino episode that you can share with people who never got a chance to meet him, please write a few sentences and e-mail me at info@hokariminoru.org. The first deadline is 4/30 and I am planning to present them on the website on May 10. Any small episodes will be appreciated. Thanks for your help.
Yuki Hokari
========= The following message is written in Japanese.=========
皆様
わずか10日間の日本旅行を終えて、日曜にアメリカに戻りました。子供たちが、私の両親と89歳になった祖母と楽しい時間を過ごせたこと、とても嬉しく思います。東京で三日過ごし、その後新潟に移動したのですが、東京の滞在中に、一人で北海道・網走まで行ってきました。
今月4月29日から6月20日まで北海道立北方民族博物館で開催される「保苅実写真展 ～カントリーに呼ばれて オーストラリア・アボリジニとラディカル・オーラル・ヒストリー」は、学芸員・笹倉いるみ氏によって注意深く計画・デザインされました。弟の死後、「ラディカル」を通じて保苅実に出会った彼女は、姉である私を探し当て、大変親しい関係になりました。同じく「ラディカル」で弟に出会ってくださった札幌在住の写真家・露口啓二氏のブログで、写真展というアイデアを思いつき、私に提案してくださり、そこから長い道のりを経て、今回の開催となりました。露口氏も、さまざまな形で展示にご協力いただいています。
数年にわたるe-mailだけでのお付き合いの後、今回初めて彼女に会いました。北方民族博物館は、自然の中に凛として建つ美しい博物館です。数時間かけて、彼女による詳しい説明を聞きながら、一点一点時間をかけてすべての展示を拝見しましたが、これほど充実した時間を博物館で過ごしたことはありません。今回の写真展まで、この博物館での展示はすべてアイヌやイヌイットなど北方民族に限ったものでした。オーストラリアで人生を終えた保苅実が北海道にたどりつき、グリンジとの経験を、日本の、北海道の人々と共有することに、感動を覚えます。
展示では、保苅実が撮った写真を通じて、人々はオーストラリアの地を踏み、グリンジ・カントリーで人々に出会います。「ラディカル」の抜粋を読みながら、一枚一枚の写真を追い、最後には保苅実がグリンジから学んだこと、世界に伝えたかったことを理解できることでしょう。
どうか機会を作って、この写真展に足を運んでくだされば幸いです。そして、改めて、この写真展開催にたどり着くまでの皆さんのご協力に、心からお礼申し上げます。
保苅由紀