Bio of Q. Sakamaki
Q. Sakamaki was born and grew up in Japan before moving to New York in 1986. For the first several years in the city, he had covered many of American cultural scenes to Japanese media, more as writer than photographer. However, soon he encountered a series of radical anti-gentrification protests in New York’s Lower Eastside that was called “Tompkins Square Park Movement.” Living in the center of the area, he naturally, intensively started to photograph the socially, politically up-heaved movement. Since then he has more served his energy onto photography, especially for the socio-photo-documentary, focusing on human rights.
In the mid-1990s, his photographic interests started to move to more international affairs. He has been photographing war zones and other facets of human conditions in many parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Kosovo, Haiti, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Turkey, Georgia, Sudan, etc.
Such commitment led him to receive many prestige awards, including a World Press Photo (1st Prize of People in News Story - 2007), two Overseas Press Club awards (Olivier Rebbot - 2007 and Feature Photography - 2010) and two Days Japan International Photojournalism awards. Sakamaki’s photographs have appeared in books and magazines worldwide and have been the subject of solo shows in New York and Tokyo, and his work of Liberian child soldiers has appeared in a media campaign for the prevention. He has published five books, including “WAR DNA”, covering seven deadly conflicts, published in Japan in 2007 and “Tompkins Square Park” published by PowerHouse Books, in the 20th anniversary of the event in 2008 that was mentioned above. Sakamaki is also video-documenting. His footage of the Liberian war used in "Liberia: An Uncivil War" was nominated on the 26th Emmy Awards/ News & Documentary/ in 2005. He holds the master degree of International Affaires from Columbia University. He is represented by Redux Pictures.
Awards (main and recent ones)
2016 The Acker Award
2013 Pictures of The Year International, 1st Prize in Feature Story Editing. China’s Outer Land.
2012 Pictures of The Year International, Award of Excellence, Impact 2011, Japan Earthquake.
2010 Feature Photography Award, Overseas Press Club.
2007 Olivier Rebbot Award, Overseas Press Club.
2007 World Press Photo, 1st Prize of People in News Story.
2007 Pictures of The Year International 1st Prize General News Reporting.
2007 Pictures of The Year International 1st Prize News Picture Story.
2007 Days Japan International Photojournalism Award Special Prize by Jury.
2006 NPPA, Honorable Mention, Domestic News.
2005 Days Japan International Photojournalism Award 2nd Prize.
2005 Emmy Award Nominated News & Documentary (cinema photography).
2002 JPS –Japan Professional Photographers Society – Award Bronze.
Exhibitions
2015 "Chance Encounter", Hikari Creative's 4 Members Group Show, Tehran, Iran.
2015 "China's Outer Lands", The Umbria World Fest 2015, Foligno, Italy.
2015 "China's Outer Lands", Half King, New York
2012 Metamorphoses, (Feature of Sri Lanka), Sri Lanka: Collaborated Exhibitions with “Sri Lanka: War Without End”.
2012 Tokyo Open Show, Japan: Slideshow “Past, Now and Future of China’s North East ”.
2009 Arles Photo Festival, France: Collaborated Slideshow “Liberation sur la Géorgie ”.
2008 Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia: Slideshow “Sri Lanka: War Without End ”.
2008 “Tompkins Square Park ”, SB Digital Gallery, New York.
2008 “Tompkins Square Park ”, PowerHouse Gallery, New York.
2007 World Press Photo Exhibition/ Worldwide:
Collaboration with “Sri Lanka: War Without End ”.
2006 Collaboration: Exhibition of Human Trafficking, Varldskultur Museet, The Museum of World Culture, Goteborg, Sweden.
2006 Visa Pour l’Image, Perpignan: slideshow “Sri Lanka: War Without End ”.
2003 The Iraq War, Yoga Salon, Tokyo.
2003 Liberian War, Clayton Gallery, New York.
1994 FIGHT AIDS!, Yoga Salon, Tokyo.
Lecture/ Workshop/
Workshop for advanced photo-documentary / Tokyo Photography Museum: Every July since 2008 and continues.
2008/08 Slide show and talk about the movement of “Tompkins Square Park ”, at PowerHouse Books, New York.
2004/06 Slide Show and talk: the issue of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, at Alwan for the Arts, New York.
2001 Lecture of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, at Kinokuniya Bookstore, New York.
Jury and Portfolio Reviewer
2011/05 Portfolio Reviewer at New York Photo Festival
2007/05 Judge for Russia’s National Press Photo Contest.
Books
2008 "Tompkins Square Park" – PowerHouse Books, USA.
2007 "WAR DNA" – The coverage of seven deadly conflicts, Syogakukan, Japan.
2002 "Palestine" -- The issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syogakukan, Japan.
1996 "We Can't Live Without Guns" -- The issue on guns in US, Shinsensha, Japan.
1993 "FIGHT AIDS! " – The reportage on AIDS in US, Shinsensha, Japan.
Group Books
2009 "American Youth" – Contrast, Italy.
2008 "Child Soldiers" -- PowerHouse Books, USA.
Clients & Publications:
Donna di Repubblica, Human Rights Watch, L’espresso, LIFE, Mother Jones, National Geographic, Newsweek, Newsweek Japan, the New Yorker Magazine, Paris Match, People Magazine, Readers Digest, Rolling Stone, Stern, Time, Time Asia, UNDP, Unicef, Wired, WFP, and many other European and Japanese Magazines.