Rivers Edge

Art Forum - September 2013
Guy Nordenson and Catherine Seavitt: River's Edge

This was a rather large article discussing Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy; however, I was particularly interested in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. 

The article contained a photograph of the 'destruction caused by the tsunami, coast of Sumatra' and I found it interesting how a once inhabited area was now deserted and had disintegrated into nature and become a part of the water or mountains in the background.

Whilst reading the article I came across a section focused on the 2011 Japan disaster which mentioned tsunami stones: ‘the most poignant realisations in the tragic aftermath’. Tsunami stones are ‘individual stone markers that appear along the coastline of Japan, some almost six hundred years old. A typical inscription reads: “High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants. Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build homes below this point.” 

The large rock sculptures are now withered away by the elements and have started to be engulfed by the surrounding nature similarly to the remnants of the disaster locations and yet the message in these rocks remains as clear as the destruction sites themselves. I think the message of the rocks is just as or more powerful, as in-comparison to the destroyed towns these sculptures are tiny yet they give the same message and will probably create awareness for many centuries to come.   

… Storms have battered them; they have lain, sometimes for months on end, becalmed. There is a residue even if they fail- James Salter