NOMINATED FOR KASSEL PHOTOBOOK AWARD 2014, Momo Okabe’s second book with small Japanese publisher Session Press compiles Okabe’s recent works including many unpublished photographs taken in Tokyo, Miyagi and India between 2010 and 2013. Juxtaposing images of underground Tokyo nightlife and the destruction wrought by the tsunami in Miyagi, Okabe expresses the complexity of the lives of her friends and lovers struggling with issues of gender identity (several post-op). In search of a genuine identity and sense of belonging, Okabe reveals the “sad, yet beautiful scenery that they could perceive after overcoming the long and difficult struggle out from their traumatic past.” The sincerity and depth of Okabe’s work is visceral; a sweetness within the tension of their collective alienation as if she has built a window into a kaleidoscopic heart. Printed in a small edition of only 300 signed copies.
