Kazuma Obara (Japan, 1985) is a photojournalist based in the UK and Japan. Focusing on hidden victims in society is a theme he explores in his projects. Just after the tsunami and nuclear disaster in 2011, he began documenting the disaster area, photographing from inside Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Obara was the first photojournalist to convey the story from inside the plant. His work in the disaster areas was published as the photobook Reset Beyond Fukushima, published by Lars Müller Publishers, Switzerland in March 2012.
In 2014, he focused on victims of World War Two in Japan and his self published photobook Silent Histories was shortlisted for Paris Photo/Aperture Photo Book Award and was selected for TIME, Lens Culture, and Telegraph Best Photobook 2014. Continuing his pursuit of nuclear labour issues as a long term project, Obara was focusing on victims at Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In 2015, he studied at London College of Communication Photojournalism and Documentary Photography MA course and got a master’s degree. His project “Exposure" in Chernobyl was selected for World Press Photo 2016 People category 1st prize.
A partner photographer of Swiss photo agency Keystone, his photographs appear in The Guardian, Courier international, ZEIT, El Mund, Le Point, BBC, CNN, NHK, and DAYS JAPAN.
