Okinawa in the 1970s, the time of Vietnam War. In Koza, a city with major US Army bases, American soldiers who would soon be sent to the war hanged around in the town night after night and gathered in live music bars. It was Katsuhiro Kawamitsu aka “kattschan of beard”, the vocalist of a legendary rock band Condition Green, who shocked the soldiers with his mind-blowing performances.
In 2006, the photographer norico had an impactful encounter with kattschan of beard in Koza while she was travelling. Since then, it has become the work of her life to photograph him, and while also being with him as a partner, she has been taking his photos until the very last moment when he passed away on 20th April 2023.
To celebrate the publication of the photobook “condition rainbow”, this exhibition conveys how kattschan of beard, a musician who always embodied Okinawa’s “spirit of rock”, lived his life.
Loved by the people in Okinawa beyond their nationalities, he kept performing on stage. What he tells us are Okinawa’s post-war history and the joy of living.

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