Heshiki Kenshichi

Kenshichi Heshiki (1948–2009) was an Okinawan photographer who was born in Nakijin during the American occupation and spent his life photographing the people and landscapes of Okinawa. He moved to Tokyo in 1967 to study photography, but received little technical instruction due to ongoing student protests. While still a student, he began exhibiting and publishing photographs of Okinawa in exhibitions and magazines. He returned to Okinawa in 1972, shortly before its reversion to Japan. His major series Lungs of a Goat, consisting of photographs taken over a period of forty years from 1968 to 2005, won him the 33rd Ina Nobuo Award in 2008. Heshiki's work is not only a vivid record of Okinawa's strong determination across time, place, and circumstance, but also documents his close, intimate relationships with the people he photographed.

*This text was contributed by Mitsuhiro Wakayama.
Unauthorized reproduction or quotation is strictly prohibited. Copyright belongs to the author and this website.