Naoko and rings
Naoko, last week, at Souganji Temple in Kazo (Saitama). A little too dark (the sun had just gone down). Can I pass it off as mysterious?
On a small bridge in Iraq
Japanese writer Natsuki Ikezawa, together with photographer Seiichi Motohashi, has published a small book about his trip to Iraq last Fall, entitled “On a Small Bridge in Iraq.” An English version of the book is available online for free, in .pdf format (requires Adobe Acrobat), here. (It can also be purchased in print form for less than a 1,000 yen.) It struck me as a fair, balanced portrait of Iraq from an admitted tourist, which is a lot closer than most of us will get or be exposed to by the establishment media.
In Bagdad, in Mosul, in small towns whose names I didn’t even catch, I saw how the people lived. I ate their food, I talked with them, I watched as they cuddled their babies. I saw kids running around shouting. And I couldn’t think of a single reason why those children should be killed by American bombs.
(via Ken Loo’s World)
In a related vein, Baghdad Snapshot Action is a group of artists and activists in New York City who have been postering that city with images of ordinary Iraqi citizens, taken by American Paul Chan. The images are online in both color and black and white versions (.pdf files), which can then be printed out and postered in your town, should you choose to do so.
(via wood s lot)