What lies beneath the waves is the sea’s secret to keep, yet sometimes, it reveals itself to those who are patient. Huis Marseille opens its doors on the 18th October to unveil Kusukazu Uraguchi’s sea-clad project Shima no Ama – a resplendent tribute to Japan’s all-female community of fisherwomen, the ama.
Only unwavering dedication could honour the sanctity of this enclave, and Uraguchi offered it unflinchingly. For thirty years, he captured the inseparable entwinement between the women and the sea – barefoot on the rocks, diving into the rolling sea and coming up, exhaling salt and light. Through his lens, their world becomes both ritual and reverie – bodies poised between sky and water, their unrelenting resilience glinting like sunlight on restless water.
In black and white, each detail in the photographs becomes sharper. The white garments feel ghostly against greyed skies, reflecting something quietly profound. In one image, the fisherwoman is captured underwater, a luminous streak amidst the seaweed, almost mythical. In another, curiosity is sparked as the women peer into a basket of crabs. Through a carefully curated series of eighty prints, Uraguchi captures the rituals of a community unafraid to claim strength and assertive femininity. This exhibition invites the ama to surface once more, this time on the walls of the Huis Marseill
Words by Sharon Calistus
Images courtesy of Huis Marseille
