Kazuma OBARA
小原一真
Kazuma Obara (Japan, 1985) is a photojournalist based in Japan. He graduated with a master's degree from the London College of Communication Photojournalism and Documentary Photography MA course. Focusing on the human rights of unseen victims in society is a theme he explores in his long term documentary projects.
After the tsunami and nuclear disaster in 2011 in Japan, he began documenting the nuclear labour from inside Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Obara was the first photojournalist to convey the story from inside the plant. His work in the disaster areas was published in the photobook Reset Beyond Fukushima, by Lars Müller Publishers, Switzerland in March 2012.
In 2014, he focused on handicapped victims and orphans of World War Two in Japan and his self-published photobook Silent Histories was shortlisted for Paris Photo/Aperture Photo Book Award and was selected for TIME, Lens Culture, and Telegraph Best Photobook 2014. Silent Histories was also published by Editorial RM(Spain) in 2015 as a new edition.
Continuing his pursuit of nuclear issues as a long term project, Obara was focusing on victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. His project ‘Exposure’ which was attempted to reveal invisible victims of the accident by using old Ukrainian film was selected for World Press Photo 2016 People category 1st prize and Magnum Photos Graduate Photographers Award.
He received the grant from Festival Photo Reporter(France), The Netherlands Embassy, National Geographic Covid-19 Emergency Fund and others.
A partner photographer of Swiss photo agency Keystone-SDA. his photographs appears in The Guardian, Courier international, ZEIT, El Mund, Le Point, BBC, NHK, IMA Magazine, Wired Japan and so forth.
Chronology
University of the Arts London, London College of Communication,
2015 - MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography
2014 - Photobook making workshop with Jan Rosseel, Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo, Japan
2014 - Photobook making workshop with NICO BAUMGARTEN, Le Photobook Fest, Paris, France
2015 - Photobook Workshop with Teun van der Heijden, 10b Photography, Rome, Italy
Publications
2014 - Silent Histories -Supreme Court Edition (Self Published )
2015 - Silent Histories (Editorial RM/Mexico )
2016 - 30 (Self Published )
2017 - Exposure (Editorial RM/Mexico)
Selected Group Exhibitions
Reimagining War, Tokyo, Japan
2019
Exposure / Everlasting , THE REFERENCE, Seoul, Korea
Young Portfolio Acquisitions 2018, K MOPA, Yamanashi, Japan
Exposure / Everlasting , Photogallery Sai, Osaka
2018
Prix Pictet Japan Award 2017, Tokyo, Japan
LUMIX MEETS BEYOND 2020 BY JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS #7,
PhotoSaintGermain,Paris, France, UNSEEN, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, IMA gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Exposure / Everlasting , Maruki Museum, Saitama, Japan
Mulhouse Biennial of Photography, France
Getxophoto, Spain
San, Gallery Interaction 611, Hiroshima, Japan
2017
Revela-T, Spain
2016
Festival Photoreporter, France
La Gacilly Photo Festival, France
Athens Photo Festival, Greece
Tbilisi Photo Festival, Georgia
World Press Photo 2016
The Train / Schwarzer Montag, Zurich, Switzerland
Silent Histories, Photofusion, London, UK
2015
Athen Photo Festival, Book Award, Athen, Greece
Les Rencontres d’Arles,Book Award, Arles, France
2014
Paris Photo, Book Award, Paris, France
IMA Gallery, Book Selection, Tokyo, Japan
Rokko Photo Festival,Book Selection, Hyogo, Japan
2013
Beyond Fukushima, Hirosima Cultural Center, Hirosima, Japan
Beyond Fukushima, Centro de historias, Spain
Beyond Fukushima, Ayuntamiento de Mijas, Spain
Beyond Fukushima, Reyon city holl, Reyon, France
Beyond Fukushima. Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain
Beyond Fukushima, EU headquaters, Brussels, Belgium
2012
Beyond Fukushima, Osaka Human Rights Museum, Osaka, Japan
Amagasaki city hall, Hyogo, Japan
Beyond Fukushima, Gallery Little House, Kyoto, Japan
Beyond Fukushima, Utsunomiya University, Tochigi, Japan
Beyond Fukushima, Asahi Newspaper Hall, Nagaoya, Japan
Beyond Fukushima, STANDARD BOOK STORE, Osaka, Japan
Beyond Fukushima, Delfonics Shibuya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Photo Gallery Sai, Osaka,Japan
Days Photojournalism Festival, Kyoto, Japan
Hôtel de Ville, Paris, France
ART ETAGE, Basel, Switzerland
Days Photojournalism Festival, Yokohama, Japan
Photo Gallery Sai, Osaka, Japan
