Disaster, traces of displacement, and mizuaoi seeds

Abstract

Curated by socio-cultural anthropologist Fuyubi Nakamura, the exhibition entitled A Future for Memory: Art and Life after the Great Japan Earthquake at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC in British Columbia addresses the sociocultural role of art produced in situ in the aftermath of the triple disaster which occurred in the Tōhoku region of northeast Japan in 2011. The exhibition’s curatorial project was born in the affected regions through anthropological research, and the selections of works brought to British Columbia are by The center for remembering 3.11; Lost & Found Project; Lost Homes Scale Model Restoration Project; Chihiro Minato; Atsunobu Katagiri; Masao Okabe; Rias Ark Museum of Art; Tsunami Ladies film project team. This article engages with the conversations that the curator, artists, and collaborators wove through the exhibition. The construction of social memory building on the experiences of a drastically changing environment is its main theme.