Kazuma Obara, a Japanese photo artist, had his exhibition on Fukushima disaster opened at the Kyiv History Museum on March 4.
Obara, 30, reveals the real stories of
the liquidators of the nuclear power plant accident, while also plans to launch
a special photo project on Chornobyl.
The 2011 earthquake was the
most powerful in Japan’s history with the death roll teaching 16,000. Tsunami
waves 40.5 meters high caused a tragic accident at Fukushima nuclear power
plant. At that point, Obara worked at a financial company, but moved on to
photo art since then.
Having graduated from the Days Japan Photo Journalism
School, Obara went straight to the epicenter of the disaster, taking pictures.
He interviewed some 100 people for his project and now tells the Fukushima
story through 23 portraits.
“I was very
shocked when I met the workers of Fukushima nuclear power plant for the first
time and heard their stories,” he says.
“I decided to
show them as they were, without the stereotypes. Their faces, which were
covered with mosaics on television; their real voices, which were usually
distorted so they wouldn’t be indentified.”
“On TV screens
we saw only their hands. I wanted to show what was hidden from us,” Obara
explains.
After the accident,
many local residents lost their jobs and homes, finding themselves on the streets
and eventually moving to live into the shelters.
The investigation commission found that
the nuclear disaster was man–made and
could be prevented in advance. According to the report, the plant failed to meet
the basic safety requirements.
Currently,
7,000 people work at the Fukushima plant. Many of them keep this in secret and
do not talk to journalists due to the pressure from their employer, explains
Obara.
A woman takes a look at Kazuma Obara’s photographs at the Kyiv History Museum © “Fukushima. Another look” exhibition’s Facebook page
“They can’t say anything
about their work at Fukushima, because
they don’t want to be fired,” he says. “Our lives in Japan and around
the world are protected thanks to the efforts of these people. My goal is to
tell as much as possible about the Fukushima nuclear power plant workers. I
would like to break the wall.”
Obara draws a parallel
between the Chornobyl disaster in 1986 and Fukushima accident, saying these two
tragedies make the links between Ukraine and Japan stronger.
“Although four
years passed after the disaster, people are still struggling to survive,”
he emphasizes. “I would like Ukrainians who experienced a similar thing to
see the current situation and workers’ faces.”
Obara is going to
visit Chornobyl, 135 kilometers to the north from Kyiv, next week. He shoots
those who worked on liquidating the consequences of the accident in order to
publish a photo book and have an exhibition similar to his Fukushima project.
Anna Korolevska,
deputy head of research at Kyiv’s Chornobyl Museum, says it’s not that easy to
work on the subject that is classified due to its crucial environmental impact.
“It
is so important to organize such cultural projects,” she says. “They
can tell the truth about Chornobyl and Fukushima, they draw attention to these
problems.”
“Fukushima. Another
look” exhibition has a free entrance and takes place at the Kyiv History Museum,
7 Hmelnytskogo st., March 4 to March 18, Monday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.,
Tuesday – Sunday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
On March 11 at 7 p.m. Obara will give a lecture at the
Kyiv History Museum. Called “Liquidators in Fukushima”, it is free of
charge. Seats are limited, to reserve call (044) 520 28 27.
Kyiv Post staff writer Victoria Petrenko can be reached at [email protected].
