Description
"For Obama 小浜方面" was the first book by photographer Keith Ng, produced as a limited edition of 200 copies, each individually numbered and signed by the photographer.
Obama, a sleepy little seaside town located in the prefecture of Fukui on the coast of western Japan, is not unlike many other seaside towns. In fact Obama, which translates to “little beach,” is one of several little towns in Japan with the same name. However, during the run up to the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, the town of Obama in Fukui tried to raise its profile internationally by rallying its townspeople in support of their coincidental namesake, the presidential candidate Barack Obama.
In October 2008, Keith Ng traveled on assignment from Tokyo to the the city of Obama to cover their “Obama for Obama” campaign during the lead up to the American presidential elections. During his stay, he discovered the town not only embodied the cultural complexity of small-town Japan, but that Obama, not unlike many small towns in America, had pinned their dreams and aspirations on a man who had become a universal symbol for hope and change.
The title of the book is taken from a sign on the platform at Tsuruga Station on the Obama line. The Japanese “小浜方面” translates as “in the direction of Obama”, a semantic cue to both a road trip journal and wishful thinking for many during what at the time seemed like one of the most crucial and divisive transitions of power. The book is a portrait of a small Japanese town that tried to dream big, the document of a road trip, and an ode to Obama city itself.
A spiritual homage of sorts to William Eggleston’s legendary 1977 series Election Eve, Ng, only having read about the series, embarked on the road trip to create his unique take on Election Eve for our own epoch.
