THEME #42Winners2023FEB

CREATURE

GRAND PRIX

DETAIL

Statement

Rats. Even the haters are alive.

The subject is a rat living in downtown Tokyo. Rats are called vermin and are subject to
extermination.People cannot see the subject correctly if they have prejudice against it.
Few people understand that rats, called vermin, are animals. However, when confronted with
rats, we are reminded that they look no different from other small animals. It is human logic
that rats are vermin.
Even animals mistreated for human reasons have lives that are irreplaceable to them. When I see rats living their lives to the fullest in the city, they seem to be a symbol of the oppressed.

Profile

Hiroyoshi Hara

＜profile＞
Born in 1970
＜Awards＞
The 46th Nobuo Ina Award 2021
2023 Grand Prize, 8th Photography Publication Award ＜Photo Exhibition History＞
Nikon Salon 2017 2019 2021 2022
And many more.

Jury selection

Documenting and portraying the lives of other creatures in a big city like Tokyo is not necessarily an easy task. In this case the animal in question being portrayed is one that is omnipresent in big cities and that is equally eager to be left unseen. The images are a testimony of the commitment of the photographer to the subject. The resulted images are funny and arresting and evoke a sense of fiction as if they were cast to tell a story that isn’t ours. Most of these parallel worlds that underline ours aren’t easily seen or documented and can be easily overlooked. It is a privilege and necessary to be aware of the lives the living others and the role we play in theirs since we are all part of this ecosystem. The eye contact made in one of the photographs invites us to do just that.