A photographer seeks dignity in his series on self-harm among Japanese women
The Japanese photographer Kosuke Okahara documented self-harm among young Japanese women for six years, culminating in his acclaimed photo documentary project Ibasyo. ‘Ibasyo’ means ‘inner peace’ or ‘the physical and emotional space in which people exist’, and this interview with Okahara grounds his powerful images in their very specific context – despair, violence and the ‘culture of shame’ from which these women are seeking some release. Despite the undeniably grim subject of his project, Okahara sees it as a ‘story of recognising the existence of people’, and thus a means of helping these young women connect with people in their lives who might be able to offer help.
Producer: Morlene Chin

videoDemography and migration
The volunteers who offer a last line of care for migrants at a contentious border
30 minutes

videoConsciousness and altered states
How an artist learned to ‘co-live’ with the distressing voice in her head
6 minutes

videoLove and friendship
What does it mean to say goodbye to a creature that doesn’t know you’re leaving?
13 minutes

videoLife stages
Grief, healing and laughter coexist at a unique retreat for widows and widowers
15 minutes

videoConsciousness and altered states
What do screens depicting serene natural scenes mean to those living in lock-up?
12 minutes

videoFamily life
A mother and child bond in an unusual prison visitation space in this poignant portrait
11 minutes

videoWellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes

videoWar and peace
A frontline soldier’s moving account of the fabled ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914
12 minutes

videoTechnology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes