津波にのまれ被災したかけがいのない
思い出の写真の救出活動をしています。
3月11日の震災以来、多くの方々が支援やボランティアとして被災地の方々と共に
3月11日の震災以来、多くの方々が支援やボランティアとして被災地の方々と共に
復興に向けて努力をしていることと存じます。
私どももご縁がありまして
津波の被害にあわれた宮城県の雄勝町、女川にて
少しでも被災地の方のお役に立てるよう現地で活動をしておりました。
その中で、東京にいる仲間を含め私たちができることがもっとあるはずだ
と現地の皆様に相談いたしました。
現地には救助の際に見つけたアルバムや写真が大量に保管されております。
しかしながら日々の救援復興活動
が優先されることから現地では
写真のことまで手が回らないという現実がありました。
日々一刻、海水と泥の為に写真が色を失い、
消えていきつつあるという事実を知りました。
私たち広告写真家や映像の分野で日頃から
写真を扱うものにとって、その恩恵を受けるものにとって
失われた家族の写真や、破壊された町の元の姿を残す写真など
思い出が消えてしまうことは堪え難いことです。
また、今こそ私たちの技術や時間を提供する良い機会だと思いました。
被災者の方々の貴重な写真が少しでも多く残したい。
現在、賛同いただく沢山の皆さんの手を借りて、
写真の保存活動をしております。
photo-kizuna-project
笹口さおり
photo.kizuna.th@gmail.com
photo-kizuna-project
笹口さおり
photo.kizuna.th@gmail.com
About Photo-Kizuna-Project
In early spring, on March 11, a major earthquake that was so
unprecedented as to be described as a once-in-a-millennium event occurred in
Northeastern Japan.
Based in Tokyo, we of photo-kizuna-project have called upon
photographers, photography studios and photographic laboratories in the capital
to assist in the preservation and restoration of the photographs of the
memories of those affected by the disaster that were exposed to the tsunami,
and have obtained their agreement to do this.
As a volunteer member of the project we first visited the
disaster countermeasures center at Yamamoto-cho, a seaside town in Miyagi
Prefecture. A large number of albums and photographs that were found during the
rescue efforts have been placed in storage, but as day-to-day rescue and
reconstruction activities are being prioritized, the reality is that they
cannot deal with things like photographs locally. Consequently, although the
photographs are being stored by the various municipal governments, we have
discovered the fact that every minute of every day, the color is disappearing
from these photographs because of the effects of seawater and mud.
I am constantly working with those in the fields of
advertising photographs and video images, so I believe that we should not allow
people’s memories, such as photographs of lost family members and
photographs of the town, to vanish, and I feel that this is a good opportunity
for us to offer our time and skills.
Even now, there are still areas remaining that lack even
water for washing in because there are too few volunteers to do the necessary
work, so in collaboration with the Sendai-based NPO Human Ties, we are serving
as an intermediary for the photographs that they are sending on from the
disaster-struck areas. Then, we clean the photographs and turn them into
electronic data files by duplicating them.
At the same time, we are doing volunteer work focused on
retouching photographs, posting notices to advise that we will restore the
photographs of memories that have already made their way back into the
possession of those affected by the disaster.
At Photo-kizuna-project, we are currently focusing our
activities on two areas: if we do not know who owns the photograph, we turn it
into an electronic data file so that it can be passed on subsequently, and we
also retouch photographs so that you can see the smiles of those who have been
subsequently struck by disaster.
In order to
ensure that people can see the photographs of their memories in a few years
from now, once they can bring themselves to look at them, we will set our
sights on the disaster-affected region as a whole in striving to ensure that
photographs of such things as town festivals and views of the town that have
disappeared due to the tsunami can be bequeathed to everyone as an asset, to
avoid regrets about vanishing photographs.
We would like
to provide support by offering photographs that will enable the children of the
region to show their history to their own children in the future.
We would like
to express our gratitude that you have taken time out of your busy schedule to
read this all the way through.
Saori Sasaguchi
Shimouma 1-25-18, Setagayaku, Tokyo, Japan, Zip 154-0002
Cellphone:
070-6644-0311
Mail photo.kizuna.th@gmail.com
photo-kizuna-project
http://photo-kizuna-project.blog.so-net.ne.jp/
