Guest Lecture: Juneko Haga
Juneko will be talking about how her practice has developed, the work she has completed and the on-going projects, First Person Plural and anothersky. Having left Japan in her teens and lived in the UK since, her interests have evolved around the ideas of in-between state and, the fluidity and multiplicity of social/cultural identity. I use photography to make some sense of the in-between and the interplay of fiction and recollection, borderless and stateless, longing and belonging, and us and them.
As a teenager Juneko felt that she wouldn't survive in Japan. During her childhood she disliked education. She didn't want to go to school, the teachers would have to lie to her at Kindergarten so that she would leave her mums side. The lies from the teachers impacted on Juneko, as she soon found that she disliked dishonesty and manipulation. However, with leaving Japan she would have to leave her family.
Identity, Mortality and Questions of Existence
She read a lot of books and one in particular that her interest in photography grew from was 'Photography' 'Photographer' by Robert Mapplethorpe. By finding this book she discovered the term photography and photographer. She was unaware of the job title photographer and that there is photography. She also discovered interest in Hermann Hesse, Rainer Maria Rilke and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.
Exile
Juneko had the opportunity to go absolutely anywhere in the world, all she knew is that she wanted to be as far away as possible from Japan. Initially she liked the look of Italy, however she found England and felt that it was far away enough for her. She knew that it would be safe for her to start a new living. She knew a father who has an infectious spirit. He is an english teacher, not in England however. He is an anglophile. His obsession with England encouraged her to move and he told her all she needed to know.
Bournemouth
She moved to Bournemouth, attending school there which she still didn't enjoy. She had to attend however for the sake of her Visa. At Bournemouth there was serendipity, democratic ways of seeing/observation of thereness. When studying there she discovered the work of Peter Fraser, and image of two buckets. She didn't understand his work at first, as she felt that she herself could photograph the exact same thing. Until she saw the depth and meaning behind it that brought to her attention that it is actually a good photo. William Eggleston was another. She liked his use of colour, composition and thereness. His work, Memphis C captures aesthetics of abstract. It is abstract out of familiarity. She is inspired by these photographers within her own practice. After finishing Bournemouth school she moved onto a program.
'Us' and 'Them' - familiar VS strange
She had no money, and was unable to ask her parents for help especially being so far away. Therefore she had no other choice but to move back to Japan. From moving back to Japan she was interested in the Japanese representation of females. How Japanese women are often sexualised, and Juneko found this problematic. She believed they are often seen as fragile, vulnerable, and weak beings. From the situation she found herself in when she first moved to England, being with a taxi man who had asked for a cuddle, which she didn't know at the time what a cuddle was, made her refer back to this when she moved back to Japan.
After her student visa had run out she had two choices... either to be a tourist for 6 months, or get herself another visa but it needed to be a work visa. MSA advertising agency has Japanese clients in the UK. By finding other Japanese companies such as Fujifilm London and Europe, Mitsubishi, she thought she may have a shot there. She could also be an in-house photographer with the benefit of knowing Japanese which is a business acumen. The visa let her stay for another 3 years. During the procedure of getting another visa she had been given a letter which she couldn't show to anyone until she got to the boarder of the country, which was France.
Good Morning MSA was her first job. They employed her out of pressure, because they had to go with client recommendation. Once she finished at MSA she moved to Swindon after saving up over the course of working for MSA. She then applied for the University of Wales, Newport taking up documentary photography. At Newport, she learnt to get there first and leave last. They asked for commitment from day one. She also needed to have a notebook to write everything down. Juneko says that Newport at that time was the place for Documentary photography. Her year 1 project required a 50mm lens. A 50mm lens enables the photographer to use distance but manage to get close into their subjects and learn more about it. Narrative was also introduced into year 1. Whilst photographing an abandoned car par she stumbled across a group of kids skiving school. They were interested in what she was doing with the camera. They asked for her to come back, and she ended up photographing them for her project. Within the project of the kids the images were of colour and black and white. One of the kids she photographed was inspired and picked up a camera themselves. From inspiring others it lead Juneko to be a teacher, profession vs vocation.
In, Around, and Afterthoughts
After Newport she was then looking for a job. She got a job with Amber Side as a photographer and gallery manager. She also done freelance, starting with Wales on View and alongside all that still continued her own research of interests.
Juneko is interested in the notion of the other. Cultural identity through language. The first person singular stood out to her in particular, as the Japanese would never refer themselves as I, instead 'us' or 'we'. Is 'us' more important than 'I'? Juneko has created black and white portraits which is currently hibernating and is yet to be completed. So far she has photographed 30 Japanese women who suggest within the photograph 'I' from their body language. She used a 5x4 camera so that she had nothing to look through stopping her from being in the camera more often than watching what was happening in front of her. She also used type 55 polaroid film.
anothersky
The name anothersky is for times being unless she can come up with something else. This project is all about her, and how she cannot go back to Japan. She chose to leave and now Japan to her is an alien place. Only a place where her mum and dad live. It makes some senses of in-between, borderless and stateless, dreams and recollection and more. The narrative is shown within a book format because a book can be a sequence and include conflict. The work shows colour, abstractness, people and places, Japanese culture, movement and stillness, nature, blurriness and sharpness. She photographs in film for this project. She said she had tried working with digital and other types of papers, however the combination of equipment gets her the colour she wants to work with. She also found herself impatient with digital, wanting to delete the images she had taken where there is more discipline with film, with limited shots and no preview screen. A particular image within anothersky of the horse represents suffocation, innocent, beauty, oppression, blood, killing and deaths. A very powerful and communicative image.
I didn't know what to expect at all of Juneko's work because I had never heard her talk or show any of her work to us during year 1. The work was really eye opening for me, and just like she figured with the picture of buckets... there doesn't need to be a lot in the frame for it to be a good picture. Loved the colour palette and subjects involved.
As a teenager Juneko felt that she wouldn't survive in Japan. During her childhood she disliked education. She didn't want to go to school, the teachers would have to lie to her at Kindergarten so that she would leave her mums side. The lies from the teachers impacted on Juneko, as she soon found that she disliked dishonesty and manipulation. However, with leaving Japan she would have to leave her family.
Identity, Mortality and Questions of Existence
She read a lot of books and one in particular that her interest in photography grew from was 'Photography' 'Photographer' by Robert Mapplethorpe. By finding this book she discovered the term photography and photographer. She was unaware of the job title photographer and that there is photography. She also discovered interest in Hermann Hesse, Rainer Maria Rilke and Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.
Exile
Juneko had the opportunity to go absolutely anywhere in the world, all she knew is that she wanted to be as far away as possible from Japan. Initially she liked the look of Italy, however she found England and felt that it was far away enough for her. She knew that it would be safe for her to start a new living. She knew a father who has an infectious spirit. He is an english teacher, not in England however. He is an anglophile. His obsession with England encouraged her to move and he told her all she needed to know.
Bournemouth
She moved to Bournemouth, attending school there which she still didn't enjoy. She had to attend however for the sake of her Visa. At Bournemouth there was serendipity, democratic ways of seeing/observation of thereness. When studying there she discovered the work of Peter Fraser, and image of two buckets. She didn't understand his work at first, as she felt that she herself could photograph the exact same thing. Until she saw the depth and meaning behind it that brought to her attention that it is actually a good photo. William Eggleston was another. She liked his use of colour, composition and thereness. His work, Memphis C captures aesthetics of abstract. It is abstract out of familiarity. She is inspired by these photographers within her own practice. After finishing Bournemouth school she moved onto a program.
'Us' and 'Them' - familiar VS strange
She had no money, and was unable to ask her parents for help especially being so far away. Therefore she had no other choice but to move back to Japan. From moving back to Japan she was interested in the Japanese representation of females. How Japanese women are often sexualised, and Juneko found this problematic. She believed they are often seen as fragile, vulnerable, and weak beings. From the situation she found herself in when she first moved to England, being with a taxi man who had asked for a cuddle, which she didn't know at the time what a cuddle was, made her refer back to this when she moved back to Japan.
After her student visa had run out she had two choices... either to be a tourist for 6 months, or get herself another visa but it needed to be a work visa. MSA advertising agency has Japanese clients in the UK. By finding other Japanese companies such as Fujifilm London and Europe, Mitsubishi, she thought she may have a shot there. She could also be an in-house photographer with the benefit of knowing Japanese which is a business acumen. The visa let her stay for another 3 years. During the procedure of getting another visa she had been given a letter which she couldn't show to anyone until she got to the boarder of the country, which was France.
Good Morning MSA was her first job. They employed her out of pressure, because they had to go with client recommendation. Once she finished at MSA she moved to Swindon after saving up over the course of working for MSA. She then applied for the University of Wales, Newport taking up documentary photography. At Newport, she learnt to get there first and leave last. They asked for commitment from day one. She also needed to have a notebook to write everything down. Juneko says that Newport at that time was the place for Documentary photography. Her year 1 project required a 50mm lens. A 50mm lens enables the photographer to use distance but manage to get close into their subjects and learn more about it. Narrative was also introduced into year 1. Whilst photographing an abandoned car par she stumbled across a group of kids skiving school. They were interested in what she was doing with the camera. They asked for her to come back, and she ended up photographing them for her project. Within the project of the kids the images were of colour and black and white. One of the kids she photographed was inspired and picked up a camera themselves. From inspiring others it lead Juneko to be a teacher, profession vs vocation.
In, Around, and Afterthoughts
After Newport she was then looking for a job. She got a job with Amber Side as a photographer and gallery manager. She also done freelance, starting with Wales on View and alongside all that still continued her own research of interests.
Juneko is interested in the notion of the other. Cultural identity through language. The first person singular stood out to her in particular, as the Japanese would never refer themselves as I, instead 'us' or 'we'. Is 'us' more important than 'I'? Juneko has created black and white portraits which is currently hibernating and is yet to be completed. So far she has photographed 30 Japanese women who suggest within the photograph 'I' from their body language. She used a 5x4 camera so that she had nothing to look through stopping her from being in the camera more often than watching what was happening in front of her. She also used type 55 polaroid film.
anothersky
The name anothersky is for times being unless she can come up with something else. This project is all about her, and how she cannot go back to Japan. She chose to leave and now Japan to her is an alien place. Only a place where her mum and dad live. It makes some senses of in-between, borderless and stateless, dreams and recollection and more. The narrative is shown within a book format because a book can be a sequence and include conflict. The work shows colour, abstractness, people and places, Japanese culture, movement and stillness, nature, blurriness and sharpness. She photographs in film for this project. She said she had tried working with digital and other types of papers, however the combination of equipment gets her the colour she wants to work with. She also found herself impatient with digital, wanting to delete the images she had taken where there is more discipline with film, with limited shots and no preview screen. A particular image within anothersky of the horse represents suffocation, innocent, beauty, oppression, blood, killing and deaths. A very powerful and communicative image.
I didn't know what to expect at all of Juneko's work because I had never heard her talk or show any of her work to us during year 1. The work was really eye opening for me, and just like she figured with the picture of buckets... there doesn't need to be a lot in the frame for it to be a good picture. Loved the colour palette and subjects involved.
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