The Japan Society Gallery in New York opened its “In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11” exhibition Friday, March 11, marking the fifth anniversary of Japan’s catastrophic triple disaster.
The photographic exhibition reflects on the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that claimed 18,000 lives, left nearly half a million people displaced, and irrevocably damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, causing it to leak radioactive water.
Keizō Kitajima (b. 1954)
The show includes the works of more than 17 photographers, who explore what was lost during the disaster and what continues to remain following the tragedy. The artists showcase the natural disaster’s physical effects on the land and express their manifestation of pain through their work.
Among the highlights of the exhibition is Takashi Homma’s series “Mushrooms from the Forest” (2011), which depicts now-toxic mushrooms that absorbed the radiation. In addition, the series “Rikuzentakata” (2011-14) taken by Naoya Hatakeyama, who lost his mother in the tsunami, documents the impact of the disaster on his home village Tohoku, through before and after photographs.
April 25, 2011, Yamada, Iwate Prefecture
While the show first debuted in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston last year, the exhibition in New York expanded the “Lost and Found” exhibition by artist Munemasa Takahashi. The unique installation is comprised of approximately 1,000 photographs and chromogenic prints that were recovered following the aftermath in the town of Tohoku.
“In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11” is now on display at the Japan Society through June 12.
from the ongoing series Untitled Records, 2014
Kikuji Kawada, Lost Child
2 from the series 2011 Phenomena: Lost Child, 2011
