Performing the Power of the Photography: “BeHere/1942” by Masaki Fujihata

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the art and research project BeHere/1942 (2022) by the Japanese media artist Masaki Fujihata. The collectively created intermedia system, which enables viewer participation, refers to a forgotten series of propaganda photographs documenting the internment of West-Coast Americans of Japanese descent in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles. BeHere/1942 employs creative strategies developed by Fujihata, who is an acclaimed pioneer of the use of augmented reality technology in media art. The project also constitutes a daring form of critique of the dominant media narrative about the historical event. The article examines the forms of experience in which the creators of BeHere/1942 enmesh the viewers. Particular attention is paid to interactivity, a new understanding of historical photography, and the act of photographing as a performance of power.

Keywords

• masaki fujihata
• “behere/1942”
• augmented reality art
• japan–united states relations
• photography and performance