Oda
Oda is a small rural town tucked away in the mountains off the narrow, twisting roads of Uchiko, Japan, roughly an hour away from Matsuyama. A town that has very little to offer its residents as a result of the depopulation issues. I meandered throughout Oda in search of day to day scenarios such as empty classrooms, abandoned places, local people and elements of the past working with an iPhone. These images are a glimpse into the quiet and desolate land of Oda.
In the past 10 years the population has decreased significantly causing problems in education, social services and many other areas. Most people who reside in Oda are older residence who has lived there all their lives. Due to the economic stagnation many local businesses, schools and homes are often a place of desertion. Depopulation in rural areas of Japan has been an issue for years. In Oda, the problem is steadily worsening while an aged population continues to grow older and a steady outflow of young people migrates to the bigger cities such as Matsuyama, Osaka, and Tokyo in search of more opportunity.
Political Prisoners of a Revolution
As a result of the mass demonstrations that took place in the great cities of Egypt, many people accused of supporting these political uprisings are suffering unjust consequences. Since the beginning of the revolution in 2011, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), the strong arm of the Egyptian military and now the prevailing Egyptian authority, have detained thousands of civilians without any access to lawyers and an opportunity to review the evidence against them. Since assuming power the SCAF has failed to discuss several serious human rights problems in the country and in many cases has exacerbated them. Some victims I have encountered have remained in detention for up to a year, along with serious violations of their human rights, acts of torture, as well as sustaining inhumane conditions. It also appears clear that a lot of these people were very young in age, not extreme protesters, happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was abducted at the hands of the Egyptian military.
This visual documentation aims to address issues such as social psychological scars, post-conflict experiences, the transition back to normalcy and how individuals and families are coping with the distress and the on-going aftereffects of the Egyptian Revolution.
