Fukushima
Paintings by Yoko Sakai
Date : September 17 - September 30, 2015
Opening Reception: September 17, 2015 at 6:00 - 8:00pm
Chelsea, New York
Accomplished Japanese artist, Yoko Sakai has, for many years, focused on traces and aftermaths rather than
occurrences themselves, harvesting both memory and remains. For this group of works, she traveled to
Fukushima, where she had previously found and documented the effects on ocean life of the accident at
the Fukushima nuclear power plant precipitated by the catastrophic tsunami of 2011. Shells of animals whose
lives were polluted by radiation, yet which partially cleaned that radiation from the water were her subject.
In monochromatic paintings, Sakai depicts stylized versions of a group of girls who remained in the vicinity of
the power plant, after a large part of the population relocated. She heard their stories and their concerns for
their health, for their future, for their ability to bear children, for their own survival, and was moved to portray
these innocents. Yet, they are not completely innocent, Sakai, found. They are still girls, filled with mischievous
spirits. And so, she paints them as tender and young, but with pointed ears to depict the hint of devilishness
she perceived.
| "Fukushima 10"
31" x 22" Oil on canvas 2015 |
| "Fukushima 11"
8.9" x 6.2" Oil on canvas 2015
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| "Fukushima 12"
8.9" x 6.2" Oil on canvas 2015
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