J. Matt

Photographer/Writer/Reporter

My Whole Life is Empty Without You

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Location: Honolulu

Nationality: USA

Biography: J. Matt is a documentary photographer and feature-writer from, and based in, Honolulu whose work principally focuses on global warming and its intersections with place, ecology, and social, political, and economic histories. Represented by ZUMA... MORE

Focus: Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist, Writer, Reporter, Fine Art, Environment, Architecture, Science, History, Documentary, News, Photography, Journalist Investigative, Civil Rights and Social Inequality, Humanitarian, Columnist, Assignments, Teacher, Educator, Conservationist, Human Rights, Artist, Multimedia Journalist, Editing, Storyteller, Visual Artist, Climate, News Reporter, Print Journalism, Environmental Stories, Still Photographer, Landscape, Social Justice, Nature, Reportage, Visual Journalist, Visual Storyteller, Visual Storytelling

Bathers enter and exit the wate...revious estimates. Honolulu USA

Bathers enter and exit the water at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 24, 2021. Waikiki Beach is imperilled by sea level rise and erosion. Tourism's contribution of 25% of Hawaii's annual state income makes substantial investments in sand replenshiment worthwhile as long as the beach itself is still viable—perhaps until 2050, under current sea level rise predictions of 1.1' by 2050, per NASA's announcement in November 2022 reporting the liklihood of sea level rise exceeding previous estimates. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activit...iki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activities at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

A child bombs off the Kalakaua ...into the distance. Honolulu USA

A child bombs off the Kalakaua Groyne into the water as others wait to jump and a child facing away from them stares into the distance. Honolulu USA

A bather is upended in a floati...revious estimates. Honolulu USA

A bather is upended in a floating chair at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 17, 2022. Waikiki Beach is imperilled by sea level rise and erosion. Tourism's contribution of 25% of Hawaii's annual state income makes substantial investments in sand replenshiment worthwhile as long as the beach itself is still viable—perhaps until 2050, under current sea level rise predictions of 1.1' by 2050, per NASA's announcement in November 2022 reporting the liklihood of sea level rise exceeding previous estimates. Honolulu USA

A young visitor points into the...iki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

A young visitor points into the ocean at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activities at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

A visitor and a local man who a...gout the district. Honolulu USA

A visitor and a local man who appears to be unsheltered, with his belongings held in a baby carriage, look out at Waikiki Beach from adjacent benches in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 10, 2022. Waikiki has come to represent a broken economic model for residents with local unhoused populations crowding sidewalks and beaches througout the district. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activities at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

A sun-burned, pot-bellied man w...revious estimates. Honolulu USA

A sun-burned, pot-bellied man with a large vertical scar on his stomach takes a call poolside at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 10, 2022. Waikiki Beach is imperilled by sea level rise and erosion. Tourism's contribution of 25% of Hawaii's annual state income makes substantial investments in sand replenshiment worthwhile as long as the beach itself is still viable—perhaps until 2050, under current sea level rise predictions of 1.1' by 2050, per NASA's announcement in November 2022 reporting the liklihood of sea level rise exceeding previous estimates. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activities at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Local janitorial workers take a...n which they work. Honolulu USA

Local janitorial workers take a break from their shift behind a lava rock wall while visiting diners enjoy their breakfasts in front of that wall in at a restaurant in Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 29, 2021. Waikiki has come to represent a broken economic model for residents with locals working in the district needing to work multiple jobs to survive in a state with some of the highest costs of living in the nation while outside interests own and profit from the resorts in which they work. Honolulu USA

A local performer sings a Hawai... on Waikiki Beach. Honolulu USA

A local performer sings a Hawaiian language mele (song) to tourists dining at Duke's restaurant on Waikiki Beach. Honolulu USA

A tourist couple have their car...Avenue in Waikiki. Honolulu USA

A tourist couple have their caricatures drawn at the "Caricature Party" stand on Kalaukaua Avenue in Waikiki. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activities at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Unhoused persons sleep in touri...iki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Unhoused persons sleep in tourist brochure honor-boxes across from the police station at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Visual investigation of activities at Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

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STOP

GRID

FULL

LOVE

Thumbnail of Bathers enter and exit the water_previous estimates. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of Visual investigation of activiti_kiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A child bombs off the Kalakaua G_ into the distance. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A bather is upended in a floatin_previous estimates. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A young visitor points into the _kiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A visitor and a local man who ap_ugout the district. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A sun-burned, pot-bellied man wi_previous estimates. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of Local janitorial workers take a _in which they work. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A local performer sings a Hawaii_t on Waikiki Beach. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of A tourist couple have their cari_ Avenue in Waikiki. Honolulu USA

Thumbnail of Unhoused persons sleep in touris_kiki Beach on Oahu. Honolulu USA

Private Story

My Whole Life is Empty Without You

Copyright J. Matt 2024

Updated May 2023

Location Honolulu, Hawai‘i

Topics Beachs, Black and White, Documentary, Editorial, Essays, Ethnic minorities, Family Travel, Fine Art, Journalism, Photography, Photojournalism, Politics, Travel, Vacation

Summary

An investigation of the Waikīkī tourist district and its painful duality.

Excerpted in Lapham’s Quarterly. Remainder of images available to license, ten images used by Lapham’s, with my abridged essay, including some images which do not appear in this series.

At a base level Waikīkī/Waikiki exists today as alienation: from place, from self, from time, from culture, from community. Waikiki is a symbol of excess and the exploitation of a people, the land, and community to manufacture that excess. It is the marketing and sale of a place and people to those who don’t share the local mores and who may even oppose them. It is a peculiar purgatory, neither here nor there, neither present nor absent—neither Waikīkī nor Waikiki.

Apr 6, 2023

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