One artist's final portrait



Sixteen prints hang on a stark white gallery wall: from a sharply edged rocky landscape flecked with glinting sunlight to the softly textured blossoms of mountainside trees. The Japanese photographer Naoko Yogo's monochrome images, which depict the sun-drenched landscape of southern Spain's Granada region, are as atmospheric as they are painstakingly detailed. But there is more to the photography than the aesthetics; the story behind the works resonates beyond the images printed on paper.

In December 2005, when Naoko was 34 years old, she was killed in her adopted city of London as a result of what one friend has described as a "an accident involving her bicycle, a bad corner and a truck". Her death came shortly after she took a one-month solo road trip around Granada, where she shot the mountainous Andalusian region with her Pentax 67. As the shock of her death began to subside and her family and friends embarked on the painful road of grieving, an unusual project took seed: her artist husband, Masakatsu Yogo, would develop her final images.

As a painter, Masakatsu is the first to admit that he had no previous experience developing photographs; a string of photography friends assisted him in his mission. Deciphering Naoko's scribbles and notes on exposure, development times and techniques, they painstakingly attempted to develop the images in exactly the same way she had planned to. Almost exactly four years after her death, 16 prints were finally exhibited last December at a London gallery, and a book featuring a selection of her works was published.

The exhibition has now moved to Tokyo and is on display at the printing-warehouse-turned-art-gallery Project Space Kandada. The final destination in a journey that could only have been as painful as it was intimate for her loved ones. Speaking at the Tokyo opening, Masakatsu said: "After Naoko died, I went to her darkroom and found 40 rolls of undeveloped films of about 400 shots. "I decided to make an exhibition with the help of photography friends. It has taken a long time because there were moments when it was too much. It was a very intense experience but every moment has been worth it.

"It is a great feeling to see her work hanging on the walls. After she died, I wanted this to happen for Naoko. Now she has a great exhibition and more people know about her photography." The photos, hanging simply in light wooden frames, beautifully depict the arid, curved contours of Granada's rugged landscape. The sunlight and shadows on its grainy rock faces, mountains and leaves are as detailed as a painting.

A second part of the exhibition includes a selection of her shots taken mostly in London in the years and months preceding her death: from a vertical shaft of light illuminating a Hyde Park path to the art deco lines of Battersea Power Station at night. The story behind the images touches not only those who knew Naoko. Few strangers viewing the show could fail to be moved by the intimate glimpse of what would become her final landscape.

The end result of this posthumous photographic diary is an intensely personal study of the beauty of the landscape as well as the intimacy of memories, the weight of bereavement and the light of moving on. Casting his eye around the gallery, Masakatsu added: "We have finally made this exhibition happen. It has taken a long time. This show does release me in some ways. It allows me to be free and to move forward on my own path. I feel we have achieved what Naoko would have wanted."

Granada by Naoko Yogo is on show at Project Space Kandada (www.commandn.net) until March 27. Donations and proceeds from her book will go towards Allotment, a travel award established for young Japanese artists in memory of Naoko.

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Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

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South Africa World Cup squad

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (w), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.

If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
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Biog

Age: 50

Known as the UAE’s strongest man

Favourite dish: “Everything and sea food”

Hobbies: Drawing, basketball and poetry

Favourite car: Any classic car

Favourite superhero: The Hulk original

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India team for Sri Lanka series

Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.

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The biog

Most memorable achievement: Leading my first city-wide charity campaign in Toronto holds a special place in my heart. It was for Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women program and showed me the power of how communities can come together in the smallest ways to have such wide impact.

Favourite film: Childhood favourite would be Disney’s Jungle Book and classic favourite Gone With The Wind.

Favourite book: To Kill A Mockingbird for a timeless story on justice and courage and Harry Potters for my love of all things magical.

Favourite quote: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill

Favourite food: Dim sum

Favourite place to travel to: Anywhere with natural beauty, wildlife and awe-inspiring sunsets.

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Bio

Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

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German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution