Replicas 11.03.11. Japanese photographers face the cataclysm

Replicas 11.03.11. Japanese photographers face the cataclysm
Various artists

Published by Atelier EXB, 2024
Size: 23.5 x 16.5 cm
264 pages
Soft cover
Language: French


On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude devastated the northeast coast of Japan. This catastrophe would shock and challenge a new generation of photographers: how can images capture a nightmarish reality? What role should the photographer play? How can trauma, but also rehabilitation and reconstruction, be evoked? How can radioactivity be made visible?

This book, edited by Philipe Séclier and Amada Marina, addresses these questions through the work of twelve photographers, whose practice was completely reassessed after the tragedy. The result is images depicting the desolation, displacement, and social discrimination caused by the nuclear accident—artistic gestures that reveal signs of resistance and resilience.

The works of the twelve photographers—introduced for each body of work by a statement of intent—speak of reconstruction and reexamine the status of the medium: from daguerreotypes to photomontages, including serial presentations in the form of contact sheets and composite panoramic images. A double introduction by the two editors, as well as three texts that evoke the events of March 11, 2011, accompany this visual corpus.

Photographers:
Takashi Arai, Hikaru Fujii, Naoya Hatakeyama, Ai Iwane, Miho Kajioka, Jun Kanno, Kazuma Obara, Tadashi Ono, Daisuke Saito, Keiko Sasaoka, Lieko Shiga, Mayumi Suzuki