Repetition - Book "OFUNATO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL" 24×30cm movie, mixed media music stand 2014
OFUNATO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The figure in the center of the back row is a friend of mine from the fourth grade. The elementary school is located in the Tohoku region of Japan facing the coastline, and its elevated ground served as an emergency evacuation shelter. Despite being a designated area for evacuation, the tsunami during March 11, 2011 reached the first f loor of the campus building effortlessly. Fortunately, the students were evacuated safely to a higher elevation, resulting in no casualties. My friend's house was located near the coastline and was completely engulfed by the tsunami and the photo album, along with rest of the house, was lost. However, this particular photograph was safely kept by his relative, and is one of the few remaining pictures from his childhood era. The photo studio nearby was destroyed in the same manner of my friend's house, and the only remaining studio left in the area was in a hotel. Photographs recovered after the tsunami were then restored and reproduced at the studio inside the hotel, gathering many people's attention in searching for their lost photographs. This act of people holding great value to the photographs, even after their houses and furnitures were lost, led myself to rethink and appreciate the value of photographs' ability to preserve qualitative memories. The film depicts a reflecting image of the school campus from the pool left after the tsunami.