在中國的邊遠地帶尋找自我

Q. Sakamaki has lived his life as an outsider.

Q. Sakamaki在生活中就是一個局外人。

As a Japanese photographer based in New York City since 1986, Mr. Sakamaki has spent nearly the last 30 years far from home, documenting wars, conflict and demonstrations. Even growing up in Japan, he moved from place to place, becoming an outsider in his native land.

他是一名日本攝影師，自1986年起常駐紐約，遠離家鄉30年。他拍攝過戰爭、衝突、遊行示威。即使是在日本長大期間，他也曾多次搬離居住地點，成爲家鄉的局外人。

Now, Mr. Sakamaki has turned to China’s fringe provinces — Xinjian, Yunnan, Liaoning and others — where his project, “China’s Outer Lands,” catalogs marginalized minority groups that are rapidly becoming strangers in the territories they call home. The work is on display at The Half King in Manhattan until May 24.

現在，Sakamaki來到中國的新疆、雲南、遼寧等邊遠省份，拍攝他的攝影項目“中國的邊遠地帶”。這個項目紀錄了中國邊遠地區的少數族羣，正在迅速變爲那片他們稱之爲故鄉的土地的局外人。Sakamaki的作品正在曼哈頓The Half King展出，直至5月24日。

“ ‘China’s Outer Lands’ is about people instinctively looking for their own identity, between conformity or originality or autonomy or dependence,” Mr. Sakamaki said. “It’s natural, it’s happening in not only China, it’s everywhere.”This project is part of a larger, global story Mr. Sakamaki wants to tell. While “China’s Outer Lands” shows the clash between modernity and tradition in China, Mr. Sakamaki says that this conflict, along with wars and migration, has existed in other places and eras, such as during the campaigns of Genghis Khan.

“‘中國的邊遠地帶’是關於人們在遵從和獨創、自治與依賴之間，本能地尋找自己的身份認同，”Sakamaki說，“這是很自然的，不僅發生在中國，也發生在世界的每個地方。” 這個項目是Sakamaki想要講述的一個更大的、全球性故事的一部分。Sakamaki說，“中國的邊遠地帶”表現出中國的現代化與傳統之間的衝突。這種衝突，隨着戰爭和遷徙的發生，也存在在其他的地方和年代，例如在成吉思汗時代的戰役。

“Behind the scenes, it’s not a romantic story,” he said. “It’s actually more like blood, blood, blood in history. One small change-up of power creates a huge wave of migration, often with new, bloody war. History shows that.”

“在鏡頭的背後，不是浪漫的故事，”他說，“實際上它更像是歷史中的血腥、血腥、血腥。一次小型的權力交替都會製造出新的血腥戰爭以及大規模的移居潮。歷史已經證明了這一點。”

Chinese development in Xinjiang Province has attracted a rush of Han migrant workers, and Mr. Sakamaki says the native Uighur population, which practices Islam, is being marginalized. The juxtaposition drawn between the Uighur inhabitants of the region and the migrant Han workers is stark.

Sakamaki說，中國新疆地區的發展吸引了一大批漢族打工者前來，而本土信奉伊斯蘭教的維吾爾族人被邊緣化了。這種維吾爾族居民與漢族打工者的並存很突兀。

A Han couple poses in a field, dressed in traditional Western wedding clothes, as newly installed wind turbines tower over the countryside. Other signs of China’s new industrialism dominate the landscape.

一對漢族夫婦身穿傳統西式婚紗在田野間拍照，身後是新安裝的風力渦輪機塔架。其他中國新工業化的標誌佔據了整幅風景。

But in the same province, the silhouette of a Uighur boy is shown as he looks at the rubble of a demolished building in a Uighur neighborhood. The Chinese government says it is taking down buildings to build earthquake-resistant structures, but Mr. Sakamaki insists the government is . Sakamaki works as an outsider, and his photos offer glimpses of indecision and unease.

而同樣是在新疆，一個維吾爾族男孩站在一個被拆毀的維吾爾族社區中，看着地上的碎石瓦礫。中國政府稱拆毀這些建築是爲了修建抗震房屋，但Sakamaki認爲政府只是在做樣子。作爲一個局外人，Sakamaki的照片展現了遲疑與憂慮。

Mongolian men riding a motorbike fleck an immense field. The face of a polar bear pelt looms before the uniforms of China’s last emperor, Puyi. An unemployed man, close and out of focus, partly obscures high-rise buildings being erected around a memorial square, dedicated to the region’s iron industry.

蒙古人騎着摩托車駛過巨大的田野。北極熊熊皮的背後隱約可見中國末代皇帝溥儀的皇服。一個近景而虛焦的工人肖像，部分遮擋了在紀念廣場附近林立的高樓。他曾爲這個地區的鋼鐵行業做出貢獻，現在已經下崗。

This work is Japanese in style, Mr. Sakamaki says, and much more personal than traditional photojournalism. He sees China’s struggle for identity within himself and says that while the project takes place in China, the same ideas of independence and conformity are universal.“Japanese culture is very personal,” he said. “So I felt maybe I put my personality, my identity, my own Japanese history, and also my own identity as a human being, combined.”

Sakamaki說，這組照片很日式，與傳統攝影報道相比，帶有強烈的個人風格。他在自己身上看到中國對於身份認同的努力與掙扎。他說，雖然這組照片在中國拍攝，但對於自主與遵從的想法是全球性的。”日本文化是非常個人化的，所以我認爲也許我應該在作品中融入更多我的個性，我的身份，我自己的日本歷史，我自己作爲人類的身份認同。”