Shutupi Origins

Despite  Lala Drona’s squeamish attitude towards the media, there are still an impressive number of images of her released.  Surprisingly, almost ninety-five percent of these images come from the same source.  We’ve seen his name in the media, his photos of Lala, but who is the man behind the camera?  Based on a Fact investigates.

Shutupi (formerly Shutupi Sutaki) is a Japanese photographer with a missing index finger.  Coming from the Sutaki family, a family of famous calligraphers, Shutupi was the only member in history to deny his calligraphic duties and follow a “calling.”  

Legend says that Shutupi was never gifted in the art of calligraphy.  As a teenager, Shutupi spent most days practicing calligraphy with his best friend and cousin Beradon’na. During a boating accident, he saved Beradon’na, creating a Purotekutā, or protector. According to Sutaki family code, one is indebted to their hero, destined to live out the rest of their days protecting their savior, until the savior decides to release him/her.

Beradon’na and Shutupi discovered the camera at the age of sixteen.  From that moment on, Shutupi craved to see the world through the eye of the camera, or as he calls it, his “Chokkan” (third eye).  Of course the Sutaki family did not tolerate the artistic digression, and forebode the use of the apparatus.  One night, Shutupi’s father found him photographing the family’s work, a heinous crime under the Sutaki family code.  His father showed no mercy when disciplining his son. In a fight to protect Shutupi, Beradon’na was killed by her uncle.  Shutupi’s father then amputated his son’s right index finger, forevermore thwarting Shutupi’s attempts to take pictures (in the conventional way).

After eight years in the shadows, Shutupi appeared again in France in 2012.    Shutupi met Lala through mutual friends in the art community and was instantly enchanted.  It was then that he began to take pictures again.  Following Lala’s growing army of Drones, he stumbled upon and joined a team of paparazzi also looking to infiltrate the emerging community of art alter-egos.  The interest between Lala and Shutupi was reciprocal and Lala too began asking questions about the photographer’s past.

Lala already aware of the Sutaki family code, and the concept of the Purotekutā, invited Shutupi to dinner, where she poisoned his food with toxic berries. As he bordered death, Lala nursed him back to life.  Forty-eight hours later, Shutupi woke up to Lala Drona rubbing his stomach, now destined to live out the rest of his days at her side, or until the day she releases him.

Shutupi Origins, Based on a Fact