Now a normal artist would take the fact that the photo above was hanging in a few art galleries around Miyazaki Ken and stick it in their biography/ resume as a way to hype themselves up.
Like the legend himself, KRS-One, I too try to keep it real, so--
The only way this photo wouldn't have gotten hung was if I didn't submit it.
The show was part of the occasional, "We Actually Like foreigners! Really!" thing governments in small Japanese towns and cities like to do occasionally. Because they, unlike Japan's federal government, realize that they can't force Japanese women to become broodmares again and they need immigration in order to survive the next few decades. My photos hung because of my pigmentation.
Which is also why I had my job.
Keeping it real.
Real or not, I didn't even get an honourable mention when the Governor picked the winners of a contest I didn't know I was in the running for. The winner, a friend of mine, shared good touristy photos of smiling Japanese people and local landmarks shot in artistically fabulous manner, as was his tendency. Afterwards he pointed out that all of these contests don't want art, they wanted P.R..
I learnt something new that day which is obvious in hindsight.
A feather for my cap did come when three of the teachers from the local art school came over to have a chat with me about the photos. Which they though were the most interesting ones. They also thought my artist's statement with each image was hilarious. Which was my intent because, being a hilarious guy, I was keeping it real.
