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Bodies and Structures

Daily Life and Work

Many of the photos in the collection show Okinawans engaging in their daily labor practices. In this section, we see a display of labor and daily life that, upon first glance, appears to be quite romantic. In some images, the people in the photos are far enough from the lens to render them as simply props for a much grander appreciation for the landscape. People are smiling for the camera as they continue with their endeavors. Did Gail patronize these shops, which might explain the beaming smiles from some of the shopkeepers? Does the image simply capture a relationship - that of between the militourist and the Okinawan vendor - that was already an important economic system in early 1950s basetowns throughout the Pacific? It is safe to assume that this was not the first time that the Okinawans in the pictures had interacted with an American cameraperson. If some images depict people smiling at the lens, others show people either indifferent or even annoyed at the cameraman.

Some photos in the "People" page, which completes this module, could very well have been incorporated into this section on daily life and labor. This is because in Gail's images of occupied Okinawa, it is apparent that there was no distinct line between work and leisure. Here, I have chosen to include those photos in which both photographer and photographed seem primarily focused on economic activity.

"Elderly woman selling goods"
"Seed store"
"Woodworker"
"The day's catch"

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Elderly woman selling goods
Teaiwa, "Reading Paul Gauguin's Nau Nau with Epili Hua'ofa's Kisses in the Nederends"
"Seed store" "This is a seed store. The old gent has made himself a pair of bifocals by taping two pairs of glasses together. He is using the far vision through the top pair only now, but back to his newspapers he will look through both. Notice the cans in the back made out of old beer cans. The tin shps make most of their products out of empty beer cans, funnels, pencil boxes, and cartons & boxes of all sizes. You will notice he smokes Camel cigarettes with an ivory holder, and the dragon ash tray is Okinawan pottery. Oh, on the extreme left at the level of his shoulder is a funnel made of old Shlitz cans."
"Woodworker"
"The day's catch"