The final image has been selected in each city!
In Yubari, there was a call for submission from the pupils of Yubari Primary School, and 14 children across all the grades submitted images based on ‘what they think of as the landscape of their city’. The Selection Committee met on 24th August, and selected 3 finalists/images - Hana Sakurai (6th grade), Yukiji Hokao (3rd grade), and Wakana Tsuji (3rd grade).
In Aberdeen, David Fryer has taken three photographs as responses to the project theme. Three images from each city were exchanged via email at the beginning of September.
Here are the three images taken by David:
Comments from David:
Three locations in Torry have linked themes of structures, space, vistas and relationship between land and water.
The Torry Battery is built out of granite in the late 19th Centrury at the mouth of the River Dee as a fortress to defend a city against a naval attack. The circular arch structure within the gatehouse defines the entrance to that former fortress with vistas over the harbour and the city.
The Victoria Bridge, built out of granite following a ferry disaster, has graceful arches that peacefully cross the River Dee and enables a new structure to bridge the river thereby creating a development corridor for peaceful expansion from Aberdeen to Torry.
Lastly, like a bookend to the Torry Battery the Wellington Suspension Bridge, an open iron structure that gracefully spans the River Dee between its two granite towers that holds the lightweight steel structure together.
Lights and shade helps defines the structures as well as their openings. Historically, they represent how connections were made as they define relationship, between build areas and between the land and the sea.
And here are three images taken by three children in Yubari and comments:
by Hana Sakurai 'My School Route' - I took my usual route to the school of which I always wanted to take picture. I like this path.
Yukiji Hokao 'Yubari, the Coal Mine City' - We have no coal mine now but since five years ago, coals from an old slag heap have been recycled. (taken 18/08/2019 in Takamatsu area)
Wakana Tsuji 'Mount Yubari, Shuparo Lake, and old/new Shirogane Bridge' (taken 04/08/2019)
[*Note from Naoko Mabon: Shuparo Lake is an artificial dam lake formed in 1962. This area's peak population was 25,000 but all the coal mines in this area closed by 1990. Due to the expansion of the dam in 2014, people were moved and most of the town in this area was sank to the bottom of the lake.]
On 14th September, after a long and in-depth consideration, David has selected one image of Yubari.
And today, on 27th September, all three selected finalists - Hana Sakurai, Yukiji Hokao, and Wakana Tsuji - met at Shimizusawa Community Gate. There, the final image selected by David was finally unveiled. They have also chosen the final picture of David collectively.
And here are the two final images selected in the end:
The final image chosen by David:
'Mount Yubari, Shuparo Lake, and old/new Shirogane Bridge' by Wakana Tsuji
And this is the final image of David chosen by the children:
These images will be printed to make a print work by a printmaker at Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen in late October.
To both sides, it wasn’t really easy task to choose one image amongst other lovely images...
Our warm thanks go to all the people who participated in and gave up time on this project. And a big well done and congratulations to all the finalists!
