Scarred lives

Kosuke Okahara spends time with young people in Japan who resort to self-mutilation as a means to cope with lives shadowed by anxiety, mental illness, and sexual abuse.


Kosuke Okahara - Sayuri, 22 years old, smokes a cigarette in her room. She smokes 2 - 3 packets of cigarettes in a day
(from the Ibasyo, self-mutilation in Japan series).


Kosuke Okahara - Sayuri, 22 years old, driving a car at night. She just quit her job since her condition became really bad and she could not continue to work normally. Sayuri had experiences of sexual abuse in her childhood and that triggered self-injury
(from the Ibasyo, self-mutilation in Japan series).


Kosuke Okahara - Mariko takes medicine before she sleeps. She always takes sleeping pills because she can not fall sleep as usual since she became mentally ill (from the Ibasyo, self-mutilation in Japan series).


Kosuke Okahara - Kaori. Plagued by depression and what she describes as panic attack disorder, the 23-year-old from Fukuoka cycles through jobs. In order to deal with her anxiety, she sometimes resorts to injuring herself. In this photo, she makes a bandage to stop the bleeding (from the Ibasyo, self-mutilation in Japan series).

Elisa Sassi's moods

Elisa Sassi - Rain obsession


Elisa Sassi - Heavy thoughts


Elisa Sassi - V. ITAMIN


Elisa Sassi - Tiny


Elisa Sassi - Restart

Tales from Odessa

Joseph Sywenkyj's intimate portraits of Ira and Sasha, both HIV-positive, and their children.


Joseph Sywenkyj - Tanya cartwheels through the kitchen. Ira, her mother, is HIV-positive.
Odessa, Ukraine, 2004 (from the Verses series).


Joseph Sywenkyj - Ira and Rita walk with Masha to the Out Patient AIDS Center.
Odessa, Ukraine, 2002 (from the Verses series).


Joseph Sywenkyj - Sasha, who is HIV-positive, holds his daughter Masha.
Odessa, Ukraine, 2002 (from the Verses series).


Joseph Sywenkyj - Tanya and Masha. Masha is HIV-positive.
Odessa, Ukraine, 2005 (from the Verses series).

(via rachelhulin)