/ 2025 / Portraiture / Culture

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Gorazd Vilhar, Japan

The girls wearing intricate headdresses and costume decorations of silver discs, globes, silver coins, strings of colorful plastic beads, wool tassels, cowry shells, embroidery ... participate in annual summer Swing festival or New Year' s Celebration of the ethnic Akha tribe situated in the high hills of the Golden Triangle in northern Thailand.
They participate in dances, swing demonstrations and other cultural events on that day.

Born in Yugoslavia (Slovenia} in 1955.
BA in Art History.
Moved to Japan in 1985.
Photographing since 10 years old.
Exhibiting since 1973 in Yugoslavia, Italy,... and in Japan since 1987. Solo Exhibitions in Nikon galleries, Fujifilm Square, Konica, Ricoh, ...
Publishing books about Japanese culture since 1994.

Awards several Honorable mentions from IPA