What is the difference if I am here or not here? – Fukushima Daiichi (2011)

Invitational exhibition at Art Forum JARFO in Kyoto, together with Yasuo Imai, BA/MA Painting Brighton/UK). The initial topic at planning the exhibition had been: “What is the difference if I am here or not here?”, researching personal loss.  On March 11th 2011 a sea-quake and thus triggered tsunami destroyed great parts of coastal Japan and caused a melt-down in the nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi.

As a consequence of the disaster, the theme was adjusted several times in order to maintain tactful towards our audience in regards to the context between our originally chosen topic and the daily news at the time.

On the backsides of these drawings are both Japanese as well as Western newspaper articles and opportunistic advertisements for insurances glued, which report the development of the catastrophe, depending on time and location in a reassuring or concerned tone.

Despite the national news claiming the situation was of no greater concern, I was urged by friends to leave as soon as possible due to potentially serious health risks also for my accompanying child.
Five large scale graphite drawings (78 cm x 110 cm) were completed in Japan, five more after I had left the country at returned unwillingly to USA. For this reason, the final adjustment of the exhibition was staging it as a live event and photocopies of the drawings were sent to the gallery by fax at the opening night. Because the faxed images format A4 is considerably smaller than the original drawings, the original scale was marked with pins and red string on the wall spaces and the faxed images were hung inside.

This category shows the original drawings and details of some backsides.

For photographs of the exhibition and a narration of the events at the time see BLOG post from 3/11/2021 at the tenth anniversary of the Tohuko earthquake and tsunami HERE.

*In 2021 Fukushima Dachii has not been successfully repaired; in autumn 2020 the Japanese government announced, storage space for the highly radioactive contaminated cooling water, which is also leaking into groundwater, is running out and may be released into the ocean.