Photographs from the Tōhoku Tsunami. A photographic art exhibition by Ian J Jackson in remembrance of the victims of the North-Eastern Japan catastrophe.

On March 11 2011, an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 9 struck directly offshore and sent a tsunami smashing into the coastline of northeast Japan. Almost 16,000 people were killed and many more displaced.

Artistic Photographer Ian J Jackson visited the scene of the devastation soon after the tsunami hit. Ian felt compelled to record on camera
what he witnessed. For the five years since, Ian has not shown publicly what he recorded – until this year.

‘As the waves receded: Images from the Tōhoku Tsunami opens on Friday 11th November at HIP Gallery in Ian’s home town of Hull. The exhibition runs to the end of this anniversary year of the disaster that hit the north-eastern prefectures of Japan five years ago.

“As I travelled I was taking pictures and I felt very strange about what I was doing because it was such a catastrophic event,” says Jackson. “For the last five years, I’ve looked at these pictures and haven’t really wanted to share them. But now I want to pay my respects to the people who have been affected. This is what I can offer as an artist…..by taking the images a step further to create something that I hope is beautiful from what I saw I feel I am giving something of myself and making a contribution spiritually”

“I immersed the original pictures in water as large transparencies sandwiched with flexible pieces of mirror……by reflecting a large lightsource I was able to merge the image and the water making them one……there is no digital manipulation the images exist as conventional photographs” explains Jackson.

Ian accepted the invitation from HIP Curator Alan Raw to show his 7 piece exhibition in the HIP Gallery in Ian’s home town of Hull. With the addition of many other photographs taken at the time being printed by HIP Sponsor G F Smith.

More details can be found here.

Photo Credit: © Ian J Jackson