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understand that photographs of them could end up anywhere. This became
very apparent to us as we were taking photographs for several days and were
not just verbally asking for permission but providing notices, written in both
Japanese and English, explaining that we were there officially on behalf of
Auckland War Memorial Museum for our upcoming exhibition. * Even with
the provision that we would treat their images with respect, the larger
percentage of the girls denied us permission to photograph them.
A particular incident emphasised the extent to which this wariness, or
fear, is not unfounded. One afternoon a young Gothloli, Tama, who had
previously happily posed for photographs for us (Fig. 89), appeared terrified
and was in floods of tears. An elderly male photographer had suddenly
become fixated with her and was pursuing her relentlessly. Tama asked us to
help her, stating that she did not know this man and that although she had
told him repeatedly to leave her alone, he was continuing to chase and
photograph her. He was behaving aggressively towards other
photographers, ordering them to stop shooting, and saying to her “I own
you! You are mine”.
* Details of this exhibition will be discussed in the concluding chapter, “Death of a Subculture?”.
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