Fukushima (2012)
Papercutting Photographic installation sculpture:Japanese calligraphy washi paper: Size 24.2×33.4cm
*This work exhibited at Royal College of Art Work In Progress Show 2012
Statement
The word ‘photogenic’ is formed from two Greek words; phos as ‘light’, and genesis as ‘produced’. In 1936, Georges Potonniee defined that ‘Photography is the art which renders permanent, by other means than that of manual design, the images perceived in the camera obscura.’ Addition to this, in the 1816, Nicephore Niepce, who was the inventor of photography, described his invention as ‘making a kind of artificial eyes’ in his letter to the brother Claude. Ever since I thought about the word Photography, I always question myself what could be call as Photography. As Niepce describe his invention as making ‘artificial eyes’, how could we describe the sights through our own eyes? I wonder anything we could visually recognized through the light could be also call as Photography. Therefore, within my practice, the light and shadow became an important element as being as the Photographic work. Therefore my key theories for the works are based on the light and shadows studies and its relation to Photography. As Victor I. Stoichita said, ‘that the projected shadow is a fact of life’ also echoes to the political side of the work that I was producing.
Within my practice, I have worked on three bodies of works which is inspired by the film footage from the aftermath of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant that exploded in 2011.
The film footage was made by the owner of the Power plant which records the crows flying around the ruin of the power plant. This area is not yet open to public due to the high radiation affect, however the crows flying freely around the area in this film. The news footage shows this apocalyptic but beautiful image from the aftermath of the disaster. For this project, I aimed to create an installation which illustrate the totality of the event through using the subjects from the film footage to let the audience to question about the needs of nuclear power and power plant through using paper cutting and the projection of light.
(Click image to enlarge)
