Sawako Yoshioka
“ FLYING HIPPO ”
2002Grand Prize
ARTIST STATEMENT
FLYING HIPPO
At the beginning of 2002, a friend of mine told me about swimming hippopotami and I had an urge to see them. Every night, I imagined hippos extending their short legs and kicking rhythmically to swim.
Gradually I could only think about hippos and I had to go see them.
Year after year, a kind of urge that originates in me has changed from something abstract to more concrete, almost like a lump.
Selecting judge: Kotaro Iizawa
Images of swimming hippopotami are nostalgic for some reason, and they draw out a “deja-vu” feeling. It might be the feeling of a fetus floating in amniotic fluid. Developing a pretty large print of a single photo turned out to be successful. It was conspicuous partly because there were so many entries for this year's competition, and most of them lacked clear concepts. Her work has the power to tap into viewers' memories in depth. I expect her to grow as a powerful photographer of a high caliber.
PROFILE
Sawako Yoshioka
Sawako Yoshioka, born in 1972, worked aboard a luxury cruise ship as a photographer. After leaving that job, she spent time at the Wadi Rum in Jordan, where she photographed and created the Contact Me collection that received an Excellence Award at the 23rd New Cosmos of Photography in 2001. She traveled to Madagascar in October 2001, where she created the portrait collection Be Forgiven. Since 2002, she has been photographing nudibranchia, often called the jewels of the sea, and producing and exhibiting collages of her works.
2002Grand Prize