In the Wake

The catastrophic events of March 11, 2011--the earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant--have been called "the triple disaster" in Japan. Among the first artists to respond to these experiences were photographers. Some attempted to document the devastation, while others ruminated on the meaning and use of photography in the wake of tragedy. As the immediate effects of the earthquake and tsunami gave way to nuclear disaster, artists began to respond to the challenges of depicting an invisible threat that calls up the collective memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Artists include Takashi Arai, Nobuyoshi Araki, Ishu Han, Naoya Hatakeyama, Takashi Homma, Kikuji Kawada, Rinko Kawauchi, Keizo Kitajima, Kozo Miyoshi, Masato Seto, Lieko Shiga, Shimpei Takada, Masaru Tatsuki, Daisuke Yokota and Tomoko Yoneda.