Okinawan Children
The babies and young children Gail often photographed represent, perhaps, a face of Okinawa that did not directly experience the war but was obviously reared in the poverty and material deprivation of the postwar. These images were taken only six or seven years after the war and the lingering effects are plainly visible: clothing made from repurposed military uniforms; children wearing military boots several sizes too big if they wore shoes at all; children who appear, as in the photo below entitled "Little fellow's head," to not quite know what to make of the white man behind the camera.
We have to wonder whether or not Gail was in uniform as he scoured the countryside looking for photogenic people and and striking landscapes. Certainly, whether uniformed or not, that he was a white man would most likely have let those he encountered to assume that he was a member of the occupying military, a figure both awkwardly out of place and yet simultaneously inscribed with colonial privilege and power. In some of the photos in this section, it is clear that the children are trying to avoid the camera's gaze, Gail himself, or both. In 1955, only three years after Gail took these photos, a 31-year-old American raped and murdered 6-year-old Nagayama Yumiko, a crime that roiled Okinawa and served to exacerbate fears of American military men.
We have to wonder whether or not Gail was in uniform as he scoured the countryside looking for photogenic people and and striking landscapes. Certainly, whether uniformed or not, that he was a white man would most likely have let those he encountered to assume that he was a member of the occupying military, a figure both awkwardly out of place and yet simultaneously inscribed with colonial privilege and power. In some of the photos in this section, it is clear that the children are trying to avoid the camera's gaze, Gail himself, or both. In 1955, only three years after Gail took these photos, a 31-year-old American raped and murdered 6-year-old Nagayama Yumiko, a crime that roiled Okinawa and served to exacerbate fears of American military men.
"Young boy trying to loosen kite? stuck in tree"
"The dark blue blouses with white strips"
"Little fellow's head"
"Portrait of a baby girl with baby brother on back"
"Standing full length portrait of young girl in boots"
"Mongolian features"
"Four artists painting"
"This is my best picture"
"The key around the dog's neck"
"Cutest little feller"
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- "Cutest little feller"
- Young boy trying to loosen kite? stuck in tree
- Four artists painting
- Portrait of little girl with baby brother on back
- "The dark blue blouses with white strips"
- "This is my best picture. It explains itself."
- "Mongolian features"
- "Little fellow's head"
- "Standing full length portrait of young girl in boots"
- "The key around the dog's neck"
