Q. Sakamaki
AWARD DATE: 2009
AWARD NAME: Feature Photography Award 2009
AWARD RECIPIENT: Q. Sakamaki
AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: Redux Pictures/Time
AWARD HONORED WORK: Xinjiang, China
Q. Sakamaki’s lyrical and poetic imagery from Xinjiang, China was a fresh vision of a region of the world often spoken about but seldom seen. By using black and white photography and through his inherent creative approach, Sakamaki transports the viewer to the heart of age-old tensions between Han Chinese and the Uighur population of Western China. His images are timeless but immediate.
Uighur trinket sellers, including girl in foreground, wait by their donkey carts for customers at a site of ancient ruins in the southern suburb of Hotan. Photo: Q. Sakamaki
Q. Sakamaki’s photos of China’s majority-Muslim Xinjiang province evoke all the beauty of these western desert lands...
...and the tension that prevailed after riots left hundreds of the local Uighurs and Han Chinese dead.Photo: Q. Sakamaki
Q. Sakamaki took this photo for Redux Pictures/Time.
Q. Sakamaki took this photo for Redux Pictures/Time.
A belly dancer entertains Han Chinese customers at a club in Urumqi.Photo: Q. Sakamaki
An Uighur with a traditional Muslim cap walks in front of Chinese soldiers in Urumqi, Xinjiang. The province under high security alert after recent unrest. Photo: Q. Sakamaki
Photo: Q. Sakamaki
A Uighur family in Kashgar makes traditional Muslim caps. Photo: Q. Sakamaki
Photo: Q. Sakamaki
Photo: Q. Sakamaki