Ishinomaki Photo Exhibition Travels the World
“We support Japan. Let’s work together towards achieving recovery as soon as possible.”
It was under this motto that a photo exhibition of photographs from areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami was conducted during Peace Boat’s 73rd Global Peace Voyage (April 24, 2011 to July 12, 2011). Volunteers and staff members who had volunteered in Ishinomaki immediately after disaster struck joined Peace Boat as it traveled on its journey around the world to visit 19 ports around the world.
The photo exhibition was called “Standing Together! Standing Stronger!” and was developed with the aim of showing people the situation in the disaster-affected areas and to communicate Japan’s appreciation to all of the people and countries around the world for their support.
The photo exhibition was held in the following countries: China, Singapore, India, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Tunisia, France, Spain, Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala and Mexico.
As Peace Boat sailed around the world, volunteer participants made a great effort to approach people in each port and collect a total of more than 2,500 messages of support for the people in the disaster-affected areas.
Below are details about the photo exhibitions held in each country.
Xiamen, China (April 28, 2011)
Approximately 80 students from the Ocean University of China came to see the photo exhibition with great interest onboard Peace Boat when it was docked in Xiamen.
Singapore (May 3, 2011)
The exhibition was held in Singapore’s cruise ship terminal.
Kochi, India (May 8, 2011)
In the Mattancherry and Ernakulam districts of Kochi, many local residents and passers-by came to see the photo exhibition and write messages for the people in the disaster-affected areas.
The people of Kerala state where Kochi is located have themselves experienced a tsunami before and many people expressed their feelings of concern as though they had personally been affected by the March 11 tsunami. One person who came to the exhibition said, “Japan has always set an example for other Asian countries. I hope that the people affected can go back to their old lifestyles as soon as possible.”
*A duplicate set of photo exhibition panels was given by Peace Boat to one of its partner organisations, TocH School in Kochi, and follow-up exhibitions were held receiving great interest from local students.
Port Said, Egypt (May 18-19, 2011)
The exhibition was held during a Peace Boat exchange programme in Cairo.
Kusadasi, Turkey (May 21, 2011)
Photo panels were exhibited in front of a restaurant in a countryside community called Sirince Koyu.
This community attracts many tourists and so many people from other countries as well as from Turkey visited the exhibition and showed their interest in the photographs and the situation in the Tohoku region.
Piraeus, Greece (May 22, 2011)
The exhibition was held in Syntagma Square located in central Athens.
To view a slideshow and interview about the Peace Boat’s activities and the photo exhibition compiled by a local Greek organisation called LifeEdite click here.
Dubrovnik, Croatia (May 24, 2011)
Held within the old town walls of Dubrovnik.
Tunis, Tunisia (May 27, 2011)
The photo exhibition was held as part of a roundtable event with NGO El Taller. Read more about this event here.
Marseilles, France (May 29, 2011)
Thanks to the cooperation of local newspaper “La Marseillaise,” the photo exhibition was held in the square in front of the newspaper’s office building in Marseilles. An article about the exhibition was featured in the La Marseillaise the next morning.
Approximately 50 people gathered in the square and many more stopped to see the exhibition and participants by Peace Boat participants as they passed through the square.
Barcelona, Spain (May 30-31, 2011)
In Barcelona an event was held in cooperation with a local citizens’ group. A survivor of the tsunami in Miyagi Prefecture and a representative of the volunteers working in the disaster-affected areas spoke about the situation in the Tohoku region. The photo exhibition panels were displayed at this event.
Casablanca, Morocco (June 2, 2011)
*A duplicate set of photo exhibition panels was given by Peace Boat to a local university for follow-up exhibitions.
Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Spain (June 4, 2011)
The photo exhibition was held in front of the Perez Galdoz Theatre in the Vegueta-Triana region.
La Guaira, Venezuela (June 13-14, 2011)
A memorial festival was held in La Guaira and the photo exhibition featured as part of this festival alongside orchestra performances and traditional dances. Venezuela also suffered from a natural disaster in 2010 with heavy flooding causing a large amount of damage. The people of Venezuela expressed their support and sympathy for the people suffering from the effects of the earthquake and tsunami.
An exhibition was also held at the Museum of Contemporary Art ( Museo de Arte Contemporánea ) in Caracas including photographs of Fukushima by Toyoda Naomi.
Balboa, Panama (June 17-18, 2011)
The photo exhibition was held for the whole day at Panama University. Many university students showed a great interest in listening to the experience of volunteers who had returned from the affected areas.
*A duplicate set of photo exhibition panels was given by Peace Boat to the university for follow-up exhibitions.
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala (June 21-22, 2011)
The photo exhibition was held over two days in the Antigua City Hall.
Manzanillo, Mexico (June 25, 2011)
The photo exhibition was held at the City Hall.
*A duplicate set of photo exhibition panels was given by Peace Boat to the City Council for follow-up exhibitions.
Ensenada, Mexico (June 28, 2011)
The photo exhibition was held at an event with Nikkei residents (Mexicans of Japanese descent) of Ensenada.
