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Slightly Elsewhere
Slightly Elsewhere
Kosuke Okahara
January 20, 2026
© Kosuke Okahara
Kosuke Okahara uses photography as a means to examine how the society he is part of seems oblivious to neighbouring or intersecting realities – lives and stories that unfold in immediate proximity, but are still marginalised or limited to abstract knowledge. His work addresses this phenomenon of an “unnoticed existence”, where seeing does not necessarily mean perceiving.
Slightly Elsewhere examines the multi-layered social and historical realities of Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture. In recent years, Okinawa celebrated two anniversaries: 80 years since the end of World War II, and 50 years since its reversion from the US to Japan. Despite its administrative return to Japan, Okinawa has long been treated as a politically and culturally peripheral region. This creates a prevailing sense of distance, which is reflected in the title Slightly Elsewhere – an allusion to the fact that Okinawa, though officially part of Japan, is often seen as somehow “other”.
Rather than photographing events or people, Okahara turns his attention to landscapes marked by the presence of US military bases and the history of the war. These physically and metaphorically overpowering structures exist in a paradox: highly visible, yet mostly overlooked. The exploration of this perceptual dissonance forms an integral part of the artist’s creative process.
The displayed works have been printed on washi paper, with the emulsion applied by hand to produce subtle variations. Fibres, textures and shifting hues intercept the gaze and remind us of the fragility of our perception. One of the exhibits is a monumental print measuring 3.2 × 1.2 metres, rendered on Japanese washi paper that was handmade from raw fibres by the photographer himself.
Katrin UllmannSlightly Elsewhere examines the multi-layered social and historical realities of Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture. In recent years, Okinawa celebrated two anniversaries: 80 years since the end of World War II, and 50 years since its reversion from the US to Japan. Despite its administrative return to Japan, Okinawa has long been treated as a politically and culturally peripheral region. This creates a prevailing sense of distance, which is reflected in the title Slightly Elsewhere – an allusion to the fact that Okinawa, though officially part of Japan, is often seen as somehow “other”.
Rather than photographing events or people, Okahara turns his attention to landscapes marked by the presence of US military bases and the history of the war. These physically and metaphorically overpowering structures exist in a paradox: highly visible, yet mostly overlooked. The exploration of this perceptual dissonance forms an integral part of the artist’s creative process.
The displayed works have been printed on washi paper, with the emulsion applied by hand to produce subtle variations. Fibres, textures and shifting hues intercept the gaze and remind us of the fragility of our perception. One of the exhibits is a monumental print measuring 3.2 × 1.2 metres, rendered on Japanese washi paper that was handmade from raw fibres by the photographer himself.
ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE: © Kosuke Okahara
LFI 1.2014+-
Kosuke Okahara: No Man’s Land. No country in the world acknowledges Transnistria as a sovereign state. Even so, it has a government, its own money and its own passports. A journey of exploration. More
Kosuke Okahara+-
The photographer is a winner of the W. Eugene Smith Fellowship, Getty grants, and the Pierre&Alexandra Boulat Grant. His series Almost Paradise was exhibited at the 100 years Leica photography shows. In 2021, he made blue affair, a video/film made up exclusively of still images. The work was nominated for the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the world’s biggest short film festival. The same work won the Jury’s Special Mention at the Las Palmas International Film Festival, and Best Contemporary Experimental Short Award at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival. Okahara also makes art books: his 100×70cm gigantic photo art book and 10m scroll book were shown as part of the PHOTOBOOK – Art Page by Page exhibition at Leipzig’s Grassi Museum. Okahara is represented by the POLKA gallery in Paris and the Only Photography gallery in Berlin. More
© Kosuke Okahara
© Kosuke Okahara
© Kosuke Okahara
© Kosuke Okahara