UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Exhibition, Document, Bodies: The (Re)presentation of the Minamata Disease Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2m404199 Author Inoue, Miyo Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Exhibition, Document, Bodies: The (Re)presentation of the Minamata Disease by Miyo Inoue A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Japanese Language and the Designated Emphasis in Film Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Daniel O’Neill, Chair Professor Alan Tansman Professor Michael Raine Professor Mark Sandberg Spring 2018 Abstract Exhibition, Document, Bodies: The (Re)presentation of the Minamata Disease by Miyo Inoue Doctor of Philosophy in Japanese Language Designated Emphasis in Film Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel O’Neill, Chair This dissertation explores the artistic representations of Minamata disease and their spatial presentation from the critical framework of tenji (exhibition). The examination of Minamata disease’s complicated history through the tenji framework discloses the relations between this disease as an ongoing incident and the change brought on to Minamata as an actual city, and also as a symbolic image of pollution and corruption. Moreover, the manner and contents of tenji can be construed as a keen reflection of the larger social and national conditions. With the expanded interpretation of the term “exhibition” beyond mere spatial presentation and instead as an act of arranging exhibits under curators/exhibitors’ specific intentions, I widen my observation to what are often categorized under production, such as artworks. Therefore, my analyses include not only the works being exhibited themselves, but also how these works, and the artists themselves, are being exhibited in various spaces and contexts. While the works themselves remain unchanged, what does change are the contexts and conditions in which they are used or exhibited, or even the very presence of the works themselves in the space of exhibition. The dissertation is comprised of three chapters. Chapter 1 examines how the issue of visual ethics plays out in various forms of exhibition through the close analyses of the ways in which two young female patients are being (re)presented. They both played symbolic roles in the history of Minamata disease, and the resulting works compel artists to face the difficulty of reflecting these patients’ voices onto representations. Chapter 2 focuses on iei (funeral photograph) in order to observe the relationship among death, photograph and this disease. The exploration of the portrayals of two Minamata disease patients both as the dead and undead and also the iei mural created by Tsuchimoto Noriaki reveals how the meaning of each iei, thus each death, is created through its social relationships. Chapter 3 compares two physical spaces of exhibition for Minamata disease and their environmental and historical contexts. This observation foregrounds various Minamata disease narratives being created through the act of (re)presenting this disease, and re-confirms that no one attempt to exhibit it will be meaningful without the recognition of this essential complexity. And the conclusion suggests Minamata’s role as part of larger struggle against discrimination and the authority, rather than as a singular historical event. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................... iii Introduction Minamata disease as exhibition, Minamata disease in exhibition ........................................... 1 Once upon a time… .................................................................................................................... 1 What is Minamata disease? ......................................................................................................... 2 The tenji framework—how Minamata disease has been (re)presented ......................................... 5 Summary of the discussions for each chapter .............................................................................. 8 Chapter 1 The documentation of the body as a record of “life as patients” .......................................... 10 Introduction: W. Eugene Smith and Tomoko ............................................................................ 10 Bodies as the documentation of the disease ............................................................................... 11 a. Bodily manifestation of the disease .................................................................................... 12 b. Leakage and violated bodies .............................................................................................. 12 c. Devoid of voices and self-expression ................................................................................. 14 The ethics of representation: the cases of Matsunaga Kumiko and Kamimura Tomoko ............. 17 a. Matsunaga Kumiko and Kuwabara Shisei .......................................................................... 17 b. Matsunaga Kumiko and Tsuchimoto Noriaki ..................................................................... 25 c. Kamimura Tomoko and W. Eugene Smith ......................................................................... 33 d. Kamimura Tomoko, Kuwabara Shisei and Tsuchimoto Noriaki ......................................... 44 In place of conclusion: the afterlife of “Tomoko and Mother in the Bath” ................................. 50 Chapter 2 Commemoration and mobilization: the reproduction of and representation in iei .............. 55 Introduction: the iei of Sakamoto Kiyoko .................................................................................. 55 Iei: death and after-death ........................................................................................................... 57 Photography, death and time ..................................................................................................... 62 Minamata disease and iei: commemoration and beyond ............................................................ 65 a. Kama Tsurumatsu and Tsuchimoto Noriaki ....................................................................... 66 b. Kama Tsurumatsu and Kuwabara Shisei ............................................................................ 69 c. Kama Tsurumatsu and Ishimure Michiko .......................................................................... 72 d. Sakamoto Kiyoko and Tsuchimoto Noriaki ....................................................................... 76 e. Sakamoto Kiyoko and Ishimure Michiko ........................................................................... 77 f. Minamata disease seen through iei ..................................................................................... 79 The Iei mural “Kioku to inori” .................................................................................................. 82 In place of conclusion: embedded-ness ...................................................................................... 87 i Chapter 3 Displaying Minamata: how new aesthetics and political meanings get generated ............... 89 Introduction: two physical spaces of exhibition ......................................................................... 89 Museums, exhibitions, and exhibiting the memory of a disaster ................................................ 90 Comparison #1: the premises—Minamata Disease Museum and Minamata Disease Municipal Museum .................................................................................................................................... 93 a. Minamata Disease Museum/Minamatabyō rekishi kōshōkan ............................................. 94 b. Minamata Disease Municipal Museum/Minamatashiritsu Minamatabyō shiryōkan .......... 102 Comparison #2: the environment ............................................................................................. 109 a. Eco Park Minamata and the landfill ................................................................................. 110 b. Fukuro, the “ground zero” of Minamata disease .............................................................. 116 Wrapping up the comparison ................................................................................................... 118 In place of conclusion: Minamata Exhibition and the Circulating Exhibition ........................... 119 Conclusion Minamata and beyond: voices against discrimination woven together .............................. 122 The original Japanese texts ................................................................................................... 125 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 136 ii Acknowledgements Higher education was novelty in our family, and against all odds, I became not only the first (and so far, the only) college graduate, but also the only one with a graduate degree. I would not have been where I am today without the continuing support of and encouragement from the people around me. Professor Daniel O’Neill was courageous enough to welcome me into the department despite my lack of training in the field of literature,