Report on Grand Prize Selection Open-Committee Meeting of New Cosmos of Photography 2009 (the 32nd competition)
Overview of open selection meeting
The selection meeting took place in front of a packed house. Each nominee gave a five-minute presentation and then answered questions from the judges. The audience listened with great interest to all of the day's presentations, as the nominees explained the intentions and background to their works. The presentations continued in an atmosphere interwoven with both tension and harmony, and at times laughter filled the hall.
The first presentation was given by Adam Hosmer, who studied photography in Japan. His work "1/2" consisted of photos of his own family and his wife's family over which he had digitally superimposed thin lines. Speaking in fluent Japanese, Hosmer spoke of his work's aim: "You can't grasp the essence of someone from a mere portrait photograph you glance at momentarily. Imposing a picture on the portrait, however, forces you to expand your imagination and allows you to see unseen aspects in a person."
"I enjoy spending time with men, and I photograph these moments because I want to freeze them for all time," said Misato Kuroda about her motivation. Kuroda spoke candidly to the judges about the photos she took from an honest standpoint and with honest feelings about her subject. She also chronicled her insatiable passion for photography: "I love taking photos, and I particularly enjoy arranging them so that a story emerges."
Masanao Sugiyama set his presentation about his exhibit's aims and creative process to light samba music. Sugiyama's work consisted of photographs of himself at various destinations in Central and South America. Visitors to his exhibit could write comments and stick them anywhere around his works. Sugiyama dubbed his process "the enjoyment loop," in which the exhibited works were completed only on the final day with the participation of visitors. He elaborated on his intentions: "I wanted to create enjoyment that linked me with other people and people with one another, as well as create a tangible collection of enjoyment."
Next up was Hitomi Takahashi, who included copies of videos taken with a camera in her work. She stated in her presentation that the motive behind duplicating the videos was an attempt to preserve old home-video footage. Takahashi analyzed her own act of creating the works. "These were all photos I had always wanted to see. The title 'Colony' suggests an image of a place where animals can be at peace and at the same time reflects how I feel when I view this group of photos. I took these photos in the hope of communicating this privilege."
The final presenter, Makoto Yasumori, spoke about the background to his works from a detached, third-person viewpoint, much like a TV news announcer, for his five allotted minutes. This was his fifth submission to the New Cosmos of Photography and the first time he won an Excellence Award. His work was entitled 'Homage to Women.' Yasumori revealed that he pursued the project because "I wanted to come in contact with the vitality of these women who still worked with such energy even when past 60" and because "I wanted to make the workers of my home town of Nagato in Yamaguchi the heroes of a story."
