Shizuka Minami’s Outlook

The Caribbean has always been a magnet for ingenious expression…but more pleasing still, it has attracted a Japanese aerospace engineer turned professional international photographer; a young woman who is a visual maestro in love with Trini Carnival, and endeavouring to rule a career niche known as festival photography.

I’m speaking about Shizuka Minami – talented, young, amiable and organized. A brisk energy emanates from her, as she sets down her laptop on an outdoor table at the More Vino Wine House on the Ariapita Avenue restaurant strip. Now she’s all set to display her selection of Carnival photos. We order drinks (cranberry juice for her – “I need to stay healthy” she laughs) as she launches into her slide show of exhibition offerings. No names. I’m looking at Shizuka 1.jpg, Shizuka 2.jpg etc…but who needs names with work like this. These are photos taken of Carnival in Trinidad, and rendered with such evocative temperament and sound compositional precision that they seem to be fine art paintings that have emerged from the camera.

In one photograph of the Tuesday parade a band crosses the stage clad in orange costumes spouting reed-like plumes. Shizuka’s cross-section shot of the scene emphasizes parallel and diagonal lines, giving the effect of streaks of fire descending from the sky. In another photo Jouvert revelers wash off their body paint at day’s end, silhouetted against the sky as the sun transforms the water into a silvery mist. The impression is one of a contented retiring mood – the softer side of Carnival. Next, there is a photo of a reveler receiving his baptism of red paint. This is the exact moment that the paint touches his head! It’s rich-red and viscous and so visually gripping that I can almost feel the cold streaming liquid. I shudder – this is Carnival as well. Then the slides roll on and yes, these are all examples of moments that every Trinidadian has seen yet not seen. This is our festive world in its cyclic perfection – our energy building, peaking, and dissipating.

Finally, the portraits pop onto screen – dozens of individual revelers from all walks of life in a variety of highly expressive poses and costumes. Shizuka excitedly clicks through these bold eye-to-camera shots where men, women and children seem to converse with the viewer via their facial expressions and body language. These shots are as Softbox Studios owner and gallery director Nisha Hosein-Khan describes them – these spontaneous models seem to be saying: “this is me… don’t try to interpret me, this is simply who I am”. According to Nisha “with these portraits Shizuka has captured the essence of Trinidadians.” And so much so I think, that even a toddler’s cute pink Carnival booties in the final shot are as much a Carnival portrait as any face on show. Then, click... Shizuka closes her laptop…

I’ve just seen a remarkable “refreshing” collection of cultural photographs all of which are about to be exhibited first at Softbox Studios January 15th to February 28th, with yet another smaller show at More Vino Ltd February 3rd to 27th. BUT…hold on. How does she do it and why of all the Carnivals of the world does Shizuka Minami love T&T’s festival so much? According to Shizuka “emotion” is the most important factor in her decision to take a photo, and T&T’s celebrations express that level of intensity. Lighting and composition are vital but the emotional power of the festive moment is what she enjoys most. As an example she sights a very dramatic piece – pan men caught in the crescendo of their delivery. “Many have tried to capture this.” She says. “ I think I’ve been very successful in doing so”. And as to her reasons for framing T&T in her camera lenses its simply a love for our culture – its been that way since her first gleanings of the country via a Panorama broadcast in Japan 10 years ago, to her current obsession with pan music and her frequent visits to our shores. So, it would seem that Shizuka has caught the Carnival fever and it’s helped to inspire her creativity…but what next for Miss Minami? Is she returning in 2010? She smiles…but of course!

- Nicole Craig