shashasha

A collection of photos taken by Japanese photographer Takashi Hamaguchi during the long years of violent student and anti-government protests between 1966 and 2015.

“The photos in this book are ones that were taken through the photographer’s intuition. He is an amateur photographer, «the town’s cameraman», not pursuing an ideology or aiming to be objective. We might call him a citizen photographer. Takashi Hamaguchi’s photography does not stem from a 'petty bourgeois' position. He acts and photographs as a citizen able to formulate a clear 'No'. As a citizen himself, he cannot bear being a third-party observer when students resist against the violence of the riot police, or when farmers in Sanrizuka suffer at the hands of the state’s violence. Hamaguchi has a peculiar sense to detect people’s intentions and actions, he senses what the state attempts to do versus its student and farmer adversaries, and what the affected students and farmers plan in return. Then, determining his place as a photographer, he instantaneously activates the shutter of his camera.”