The other night I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Aileen Smith at the university I work at. Her talk was specifically about Minamata - both then and now, which included highlighting the impact of photography on how it can be bring light to environmental disasters, and hopefully help those victims get some sort of restitution/help. Even now, nearly 50 years after the verdict, there are currently 9 lawsuits going on across the country to help victims of mercury poisoning (not just in Minamata, but elsewhere in Japan as well). Ms. Smith, who currently lives here in Kyoto, showed us a lot of images from that iconic photo essay, with about two-thirds of the photos being Gene's, and the other third being hers.
A few other interesting points (related to photography) from the talk (which included references to the movie, which was being shown afterwards):
-Months after their arrival in Japan (on January 7th), and exactly three years later to the day, he was working on the prologue for their book 'Minamata' and asked Aileen what day it was. It was then that they realized it was the anniversary of the attack and that the statute of limitations had passed to sue the attackers, but it had been a conscious choice as they knew they couldn't be involved with a lawsuit and finish the book at the same time. The injuries Gene received that day caused him long-lasting pain and impacted him for the rest of his life.
-She is still in contact with many of the people they met in Minamata at that time, and speaks to a few of them on a regular basis (some of whom are portrayed in the film).
-The Smiths weren't the only photographers in Minamata - some were already there when they arrived, and there were about 9 in total who were photographing on a regular basis.
-She said that Gene was a prolific drinker (a bottle of Scotch a day to deal with the pain of his injury sustained in Okinawa during WWII) but that she never saw him drunk (only once). While in Minamata, most of their money was spent on booze, film and photo paper.
-Just like the victims allowed other people (like them, other activists, lawyers, etc) to tell their stories, she also realized that in the making of the movie Minamata that she also had to let go and let other people tell her story, even if it wasn't entirely accurate, to get the information out there to a larger audience. For example, while there was a fire due to arson that happened IRL, it was not their darkroom that burned as portrayed in the movie. In addition, while a third of the book contains images made by her, not one made it into the movie.
-Finally, she mentioned that Gene's photographs represented all that he was as a person - his humour, his depression, his integrity, his dedication to his art, everything. His commitment was always to the subjects and the viewers of his photographs (and not other stakeholders like editors, etc.)
Overall it was a really great talk with lots of photos, many of which I had seen but also other ones that I hadn't. I had a couple of photography-related questions for her but unfortunately we ran out of time in the Q&A so I never got the chance to ask. Hopefully I'll have another chance someday as now that I know that she lives here, I'll be keeping an eye out for further talks and/or events from her anti-nuclear organization that she founded and is the director of.
A few other interesting points (related to photography) from the talk (which included references to the movie, which was being shown afterwards):
-Months after their arrival in Japan (on January 7th), and exactly three years later to the day, he was working on the prologue for their book 'Minamata' and asked Aileen what day it was. It was then that they realized it was the anniversary of the attack and that the statute of limitations had passed to sue the attackers, but it had been a conscious choice as they knew they couldn't be involved with a lawsuit and finish the book at the same time. The injuries Gene received that day caused him long-lasting pain and impacted him for the rest of his life.
-She is still in contact with many of the people they met in Minamata at that time, and speaks to a few of them on a regular basis (some of whom are portrayed in the film).
-The Smiths weren't the only photographers in Minamata - some were already there when they arrived, and there were about 9 in total who were photographing on a regular basis.
-She said that Gene was a prolific drinker (a bottle of Scotch a day to deal with the pain of his injury sustained in Okinawa during WWII) but that she never saw him drunk (only once). While in Minamata, most of their money was spent on booze, film and photo paper.
-Just like the victims allowed other people (like them, other activists, lawyers, etc) to tell their stories, she also realized that in the making of the movie Minamata that she also had to let go and let other people tell her story, even if it wasn't entirely accurate, to get the information out there to a larger audience. For example, while there was a fire due to arson that happened IRL, it was not their darkroom that burned as portrayed in the movie. In addition, while a third of the book contains images made by her, not one made it into the movie.
-Finally, she mentioned that Gene's photographs represented all that he was as a person - his humour, his depression, his integrity, his dedication to his art, everything. His commitment was always to the subjects and the viewers of his photographs (and not other stakeholders like editors, etc.)
Overall it was a really great talk with lots of photos, many of which I had seen but also other ones that I hadn't. I had a couple of photography-related questions for her but unfortunately we ran out of time in the Q&A so I never got the chance to ask. Hopefully I'll have another chance someday as now that I know that she lives here, I'll be keeping an eye out for further talks and/or events from her anti-nuclear organization that she founded and is the director of.
