Right after the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, I found a blog about peacocks that were left in the evacuation zone, within the 20km limit. I started imagining those peacocks, walking around the empty town with their beautiful wings spread. The image I had in my mind seemed so far away from what was going on in Fukushima. It was as if two different layers of images – the disaster scene and beautiful peacocks – were overlapping with each other without being unified.
I started to see different layers in almost everything after the disaster in 2011. The accident had a great impact on us, and yet, most of us don’t know exactly what happened, what is happening or what will happen in the future. Tokyo was chosen as the host city for 2020 Olympic games. Some evacuees have started to return home and many farmers and fishermen have started to work again. Others have started to move away – towards the west – to be further from the Fukushima plants. Seasons come and go, people fall in love, kids play.
It is not my intention to introduce a pessimistic note or romanticize tragedy. There have always been problems, and beautiful things have always remained beautiful…
Miho Kajioka
Miho Kajioka is a Japanese photographer living in San Francisco, USA.
Miho Kajioka, And where did the peacocks go?
March 23 to April 29, 2017
Corden Potts Gallery
49 Geary St #410
San Francisco, CA 94108
USA
