3.11

This is my friend's note. He is a sculptor and essayist. He was suffering that big disaster. I translated his words. I would appreciated if you read it. "To the Artists who are getting over 3.11" written by Eisaku Andou 20 years ago my wife and I wished to live closer to nature . So we moved to Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture. We have been living in the mountains for 15 years, and we have also lived in a small town on the coastlands for 5 years. We have spent a starving life for a long time, because we both are sculptors. Our way of living doesn't coincide with this society. That's why we have been suffering throughout this ordeal. If we work hard, we will not get much in return. I felt that almost all of the energy that we spend might scatter and fall out of this universe. In 2010, our house was seized, and our life was almost over. Ten days before the big earthquake, we talked over tea. W; If we lost everything, what one thing would you want to stay here? I; Only one thing....? How about you ? W; Well, I want to keep the family picture book. I; I don't want to keep it. At that time, I was thinking of a project that would involve burning my works in the beach, and sending it back to the earth. I thought that I wanted to reset the histories of the ordeal. On the March, 11, we went shopping in the town with my daughter, it has been a long time since we have done this. After seeing a friend's exhibition we were just looking through the shopping mall. At that moment it came at 2:46. In the evening, our home ,which was located 15km away from the coast, containing all my work, possessions and tools were all swept away by the tsunami and fire. We stayed all night in the car which parked on open space, wearing blankets that I use when I transport our works. The next day, we were supplied with gasoline and food. When I was watching TV to get information, suddenly Nuclear power plant exploded. Immediately we left there to go to my wife's mother's house after saying good bye and " definitely see you again. " to friends who were in Fukushima. Three weeks later, we were able to come back to see my house. I picked my son, who living in Tokyo, up at Iwaki station. All of my family, my wife, daughter, son and I went to the scene. It was as if my much loved small town in the coastlands had been bombed. There was a burning smell and a wind was blowing from the north contained radiation. There were no living things. The spark of life was disappeared from the area. While I have been being dumbfounded in front of disappeared my house, my daughter found and brought me a small box. I opened it and inside were a tiny wooden dress-up doll and clothes. It is that my wife made it for her when she was small. The doll ,which was untouched, was smiling as if nothing had happened. In this small town by the coast , the people were connected to each other by their hearts. All of my family had been walking for a while on the rubble. When we walked once around the town,we're going to leave there. At that moment, I found something that reminded me of a memory. It was a wooden toy that I made for my son when he was small. Back then, I made it to imitate a box car which we used. That kind of toy car didn't exist in any toy store. It was as if the small car appeared in front of us and said " Are you going to go back home?" It gave me a strange feeling. The several hundred sculptures which I made greedily were all broken and gone, but the small fragile toys which our family made for our children still remained right in front of us. When I turned around I saw a small shrine which people have taking great care of. I didn't understand how it could be so flawless. I wonder what the true meaning of existence is ? Seeing the toy and the small shrine sent me a message; how to live my life from here on out. After all, we decided not to touch or move anything and leave my old neighborhood just as it was. For about 2 month, somehow we could arrive at Asuka village in Nara prefecture in the end of May, while moving from place to place, making works and having exhibitions. Many people have been helping and giving much of love to us. If I told you about the experiences during those two months, I would need over ten pages. So I won't tell about them. Until now, I have never said "Thank you" so many times before. I felt that was getting purified by that phrase. We evacuated to Asuka. When we got settled, my wife muttered " I wanted to keep the pictures of my children's childhood." In a short time, we received a small package. It was from a person who was iving in Tokyo. The person said that while he was doing volunteer activities in Iwaki, He found our family album. He kindly brought it back to his house and cleaned it up. He found my name among the pictures and searched for my address on the internet. Finally, when he found it, he sent the photo album to us. I opened the package, there were many pictures which were ruined, but they were placed nicely in plastic bags. All of the pictures were of our children's when they were small. I wonder if heaven is listening to us somewhere. Before the disaster, hearts of people were divided in competition with each other. On that day people began to connect with each other as if being reminded of something they had forgotten. These people sent a message by helping without being forced, and it was passed on from one person to the next like a baton. So it goes around the universe and arrives for someone who needs it at the time that they need it. Anyway, what can we as Artists do ? People were sinking everything in the pool of the economy, and life was treated like a game with victory or defeat those days. The world of Art had been under this influence and Artists had behaved so. Some Artists had lived in their element, but some had lived like a fish out of water, and they had struggled to look for their place in the world. 3.11 was kind of a wake up call. In the unimaginable destruction and shaking emotions, what should we realize, what are we trying to remember ? No longer can the wave motion support of the Art game their spirit or this era. The pool cracked and a big wave that spread around it has already flowed into the pool. Many people have thought deeply since that day, and they have come into the disaster area and they are continuing to act. That is a movement that they want to touch certain things for themselves in their lives in the stream of society as it flutters and changes. A sculptor, Mr Churyo Sato, he is famous Japanese sculptor, told me that story. That is his experience when he was a detainee in Siberia. There was nothing to eat so people who were still alive had things in common. It wasn't because they had tough bodies. The reason was because those people were writing poetry and literature, drawing pictures, making things, singing songs or whatever, doing things themselves. There were some similar descriptions of Auschwitz. People who count on their fingers the number of days until their release from there were dead after finding they couldn't be released. In such situations, people who create things endure to live. Being the most core energy, what sustains human beings the most might be the light of the soul. It's just starting to change. The big disaster still might happen. And history, science what we haven't known might be investigated, we might be confused and society might fall into chaos. At that time, I want Artists to send the message of what the framework of human existence is, that they make the whole world see clearly by the capability of their creation, intuition and rough sketching. As if we weren't already sending this messages enough.