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Accepted Paper:

The invisible disaster: Fukushima and infra-visual photography  
Chihiro Minato (Tama Art University)

Paper short abstract:

How can we photograph a disaster that cannot be captured visually? Through my experience of photographing in Fukushima in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, this paper considers how this invisible disaster has changed the significance of photographic practices.

Paper long abstract:

How can we photograph a disaster that cannot be captured visually? Radiation fears have gripped Japan and beyond following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant triggered by the 3/11 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. While the damaged power plant has been photographed numerous times, such images only show the forces of the nuclear explosions, but not the ongoing disaster itself. Disasters such as radioactivity and nuclear leaks are barely visible, if not invisible, despite the visible fears they induce. The invisible disaster has not only changed the landscape of Japan but the psychology of its people.

Through my experience of photographing in Fukushima, especially in the evacuation zone, in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster, this paper explores how this invisible disaster has changed the significance of photographic practices. It also reconsiders the meanings of everyday objects and images such as family photo albums from the perspectives of the evacuees from Iitate village, located 40 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Panel P10
Engaging Disaster: Photography on Unsettled Ground
  Session 1