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“The Ama is a project that arose after Stefan was introduced to the tradition by his friend Wataru Suzuki. “A few weeks later, I was on a local train from Nagoya to Toba on my way to stay with the Nakagawa family, who have been working as Ama for centuries,” Stefan recalls. “Currently there are three generations, the grandmother still goes into the sea regularly.” He notes the feeling of learning about the Ama as being similar to stumbling across a “little universe”, and because there are only around 2,000 divers left in Japan, Stefan made it his mission to document its history. “It’s a fading tradition, but with the work we do, we have the opportunity to make it live on a bit longer, even if it’s just in a book.”


“I love the raw emotion that emits from this image and the pure joy I feel looking it. The humanity seeps through in every detail and choice, compositionally and through the use of color (and lack there of). I was drawn to the expansiveness of the image as well as its simplicity.”

                                                            – Alex Prager


Awards

Life Framer 2020 by Alex Prager
Palm Photo Prize 2021 Shortlist


Press

British Journal of Photography
ItsNiceThat
This Is Paper Magazine
Huck Magazine
Common Language Magazine
C 41 Magazine
©2023 - Tokyo,Japan