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.

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1985年岩手県生まれ。大阪府在住。写真家、ジャーナリスト。スイス、フォトエージェンシーKEYSTONE-SDAパートナーフォトグラファー。ロンドン芸術大学フォトジャーナリズム修士課程卒業。2012年、東日本大震災と福島第一原発・原発作業員を記録した写真集『RESET』（ラースミュラー出版/スイス）、2015年には太平洋戦争で被害を受けた子供たちの戦後を描いた「Silent Histories」(RM/スペイン)を発表。長期的視野からチェルノブイリ原子力発電所事故を記録した 『Exposure/Everlasting』（2015）では、世界報道写真賞をはじめ、国際的な賞を多数受賞した。2016年、フランスのFestival Photoreporterより助成を得て、ビキニ水爆実験で犠牲をおった漁師に焦点を当てた「Bikini Dairies」、2018年にはオランダ大使館より助成を得て、第二次世界大戦で日本軍によって犠牲を負った人々の戦後を描く「A story」を現在も進行中。災禍の中で見えなくなっていく個に焦点を当てた作品制作に精力的に取り組みながら、2020年には米ナショナルジオグラフィック協会より助成を受けて、コロナ禍の最前線で働く看護師・介護士による看取りの記録を続けている。本を媒体としやヴィジュアルストーリーテリングのワークショップをヨーロッパを中心に開催する他、国際的なBook Awardの審査員なども務める。写真集は米TIMES紙Best Photobook選出やParis-Photo Aperture photobook Awardショートリストなど写真集は海外で高い評価を得ている。

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//Job//

Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co., Ltd. (2009-2011) 

Photographer (2011- )

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//Education//

Utunomiya University BA in Sociology of Transnational Relations (April 2006 – March 2009)
University of the Arts London, London College of Communication,
MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography  (January 2015 – December 2015)

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Photobook making workshop with Jan Rosseel, Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo, Japan (2014)
Photobook making workshop with NICO BAUMGARTEN, Le Photobook Fest, Paris, France (2014)
Photobook Workshop with Teun van der Heijden, 10b Photography, Rome, Italy (2015)

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//Photobooks//

Reset Beyond Fukushima (Lars muller publisher/Switzerland 2012)
Silent Histories -Supreme Court Edition (Self Published 2014)
Silent Histories (Editorial RM/Mexico 2015)
30 (Self Published 2016)
Exposure (Editorial RM/Mexico 2017)

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//Collection//

V&A, UAL, K MOPA 

 

//Assignments, Publication//

The guardian(UK) Le Point (France), Photography Monthly (UK), El Mundo (Spain), DIE ZEIT (Germany), Work (Switzerland) , Kultur (Switzerland) , Basler Zeitung (Switzerland), Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Germany), CNN(US), SF (Switzerland), Planetopia (Germany), TF1 (France), ZDF (Germany), WIRED(Japan), IMA(Japna), Days Japan(Japan)

 

//Grant//

Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant Programme 2022/ Japan(2023)

National Geographic Society Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists/ 2021  

Cultural Shared Programme/ The Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo(2019)

Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation/UK (2016)
Festival Photoreporter/France(2016)
Ito Fundation For International Education Exchange/Japan (2015)

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//Awards, Nominations, Best Photobook//

2017
<Exposure>
Photo-eye Best photobooks 2017 selected by Todd Hido
Magnum Graduates Photography Award, Winner
WIRED Audi INNOVATION AWARD, Winner
Hariban Award, Finalist
Nominated for Prix Pictet Japan Award

 

2016
<Exposure>
World Press Photo Award 2016, People, 1st Prize
Nominated World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass 2016
Nominated for the Magnum Photos Graduate Photographers Award 2016
Magnum Lens Culture Award 2016, Finalist
Nominated for Prix Pictet Award

 

2015

<Silent Histories>
Athens Photo Festival Portfolio Review2015, Winner

Nominated for Arles Author Book Award
Nominated for Kassel Photobook Festival Best Photobook 2015
Nominated for Best Photobook of Photo Espana

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2014
<Silent Histories -Supreme Court Edition->
TIME Best Photobooks 2014
Shortlisted for Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation Photobook Awards
Claxton Project -The fourteen photobook highlight of 2014
LensCulture Editor’s – 2014 Photobooks of the Year
Telegraph My favourite photo books of 2014 by Photo editor Cheryl Newman
fotografia -THE ULTIMATE LIST OF 2014 BEST PHOTOBOOKS
Photo eye -Best books of 2014 by Colin pantall
Photo eye -Best Books 2014 by Manik Katyal
Nominated World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass 2014

 

2013
Critical Mass 2013 Finalist

 

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//Exhibitions//

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2024

GLITCH -THE ART OF INTERFERENCE/ Pinakothek Der Moderne / Munich, Germany / 2023-2024

Arles 2024 Edition/ REFLECTION – 11/03/11 
JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHERS FACING THE CATACLYSM / Arles, France / 2024

Okinawa-Airakuen/ Okinawa, Japan / 2023

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2023

Okinawa-Airakuen/ Okinawa, Japan / 2023

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2022

Exposure/ Everlasting, Fotoforum, Austria/ 2022

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2021

Fill in the blanks, Kyotographie 2021, Nijo-jo, Kyoto, Japan/ 2021

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2020

Reimagining War, Tokyo, Japan / 2020

 

2019

Exposure / Everlasting , THE REFERENCE, Seoul, Korea / 2019

Young Portfolio Acquisitions 2018, K MOPA, Yamanashi, Japan / 2019

Exposure / Everlasting , Photogallery Sai, Osaka / 2019

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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 

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2017

Revela-T, Spain/ 2017
 

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 

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2014

Paris Photo, Book Award, Paris, France

IMA Gallery, Book Selection, Tokyo, Japan

Rokko Photo Festival,Book Selection,  Hyogo, Japan

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2013

Beyond Fukushima, Hirosima Cultural Center, Hirosima, Japan (2013)
Beyond Fukushima, Centro de historias, Spain (2013)
Beyond Fukushima, Ayuntamiento de Mijas, Spain (2013)
Beyond Fukushima, Reyon city holl, Reyon, France (2013)
Beyond Fukushima. Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain (2013)
Beyond Fukushima, EU headquaters, Brussels, Belgium (2013)

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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 (2012)

Days Photojournalism Festival, Kyoto, Japan (2012)
Hôtel de Ville, Paris, France (2012)
ART ETAGE, Basel, Switzerland (2012)
Days Photojournalism Festival, Yokohama, Japan (2012)
Photo Gallery Sai, Osaka, Japan (2011)

 

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 //Workshop, Lecture, Talk//

 

2020

Presentation/Webiner, The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London, UK

Presentation, Panel Discussion, Salut, Kyoto, Japan

 

2019

Dummy Workshop, Keystone, Zurich, Switzerland

Dummy Workshop, Fotografica, St. Petersburg, Russia

Dummy Workshop, THE REFERENCE, Seoul, Korea

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2018

Lecture, Panel Discussion, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Conversation with Marc Feustel, Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain 

Lecture and Conversation with Dr Ele Carpenter, The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, London, UK

Lecture, Amsterdam University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Lecture, KABK, Den Haag, The Netherlands

Lecture, World Press Photo, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Dummy Workshop, Keystone, Zurich, Switzerland

Dummy Workshop, Fotografica, St. Petersburg, Russia

Dummy Workshop, Lecture, Istanbul Photobook Festival, Istanbul, Turkey

2017

Lecture, Yale-NUS College, Singapore

Storytelling Workshop, Hirosima city University, Hiroshima, Japan

Dummy Workshop, Keystone, Zurich, Switzerland

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2016

Presentation, San Telmo Museoa, San Sebastian, Spain
Presentation, World Press Photo Exhibition, Singapore 
Presentation, Panel discussion, World Press Photo Award Days, Amsterdom, The Netherlands

Talk with Peter Kennard, Photofusion, London, UK  
Book Presentation, Wer-Haus, Barcelona (2016)

 

2015
Presentation, IC Visual Lab, Bristol, UK 
Presentation, Photobook Bristol, Bristol, UK

 

//Residency//

Cafe de Alps, Sion, Switzerland (2022/2023)

Docuking Station, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018)