• Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama
  • Nina Poppe Ama

Nina Poppe Ama

Everyone in Japan knows them as "Ama-San," a title that conveys a great deal of affection and admiration – and yet, even in the big cities, hardly anyone is aware of what these courageous and independent women of the seas are actually capable of. At an average age of 60, they make their living by hunting abalone, a delicacy prized particularly in East Asia. The ama look like mature mermaids who, instead of enjoying their golden years in leisure, continue to dive regularly as far as 20 meters down into the depths. Since time immemorial, the image of man as hunter has been the epitome of masculinity. Which makes it all the more amusing that, based on the experience that men become chilled in the water faster, the hunt for abalone has traditionally been a womans domain in Japan.
In her book ama, the Cologne photographer Nina Poppe (*1979) spirits us away to a place where women lead a very special life and there is apparently no room for men. Nina Poppe studied photography first at the Utrecht School of the Arts and, from 2005, at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne with Boris Becker. The ama series was exhibited at Art Cologne in 2011. Review "Poppe deploys a deceptively simple style wherein the colour tones are muted but evocative and the essence of the ama way of life is in the observed, often low-key details: sandals sitting neatly on a wooden jetty; a pair of outsized pants hanging on a washing line outside a tin shed; exhausted women emerging from the sea in ill-fitting wet suits and large goggles. Poppes beautifully produced book may turn out to be an elegy for a singular way of life that has endured for centuries." Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 28.12.2011

Hardcover 19,4 x 24 cm 88 pages 56 color illustrations English, Japanese Out of print ISBN 978-3-86828-251-1 2011

Artist:

Nina Poppe

Preview

Awards

Selected title German Photo Book Award 2013

Exhibitions

Kunstverein Leverkusen Schloß Morsbroich
02.03. – 01.04.2012

FOAM Museum, Amsterdam
11.05. – 27.06.2012

Morgen Land
aff Galerie, Berlin
18.11.2017 – 28.02.2018

Order directly from the publisher:

This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!

* Please fill in these fields. They are required to process your request.

Contact form

This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!
This field is required!

* Please fill in these fields. They are required to process your request.

Subscribe to Kehrer newsletter:

This field is required!
This field is required!

* Please fill in these fields. They are required to process your request.

Advanced Search

Simple Search