migratory patterns :: part two

2012  walter maciel gallery,  4 drawings plus crochet doily key of radiation emissions, dimensions variable

here is the 2nd half of my show, migratory patterns at walter maciel gallery. in these series i wanted to explore the migration of things outside of myself. i wanted to still relate it to my world view and personal experience, though, so i decided to concentrate on 2 things that pertain to my japanese heritage.

above you see 4 depictions of the migration of radiation from the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant after the earthquake/tsunami on march 11,  2011. these maps depict readings in the surrounding areas. the little bits of text highlight surrounding cities. my mom is actually from an area of japan very close to this region. after the earthquake we were quite worried about her brother and sister who still live there.

clearly this nuclear disaster is something that the japanese [and us] will have to deal with for many years to come... like chernobyl. but as i've done in the past i wanted to make something awful and scary into something mysterious and perhaps even beautiful.

march 16, 2011,  2012,   embroidery and graphite on duralar, 16 x 16 inches framed

this is 5 days after. if you look closely there's 5 hashmarks in the lower right. the colors and the length of stitch indicate the amount of radiation that was measured.

april  11, 2011, 2012,  embroidery and graphite on duralar, 16 x 16 inches framed

this is a month after.

september 11, 2011 2012, embroidery and graphite on duralar, 16 x 16 inches framed

this is 6 months after. the sept. 11 date significance is not lost on me.

march 12, 2012, 2012, embroidery and graphite on duralar, 16 x 16 inches framed

this is one year after. i think it's amazing to see the changes. if you actually study the readings they really change from day to day. i was shocked that one year later there is still THIS MUCH radiation detected.

fukushima daiichi, doily graph, detail, 2012, installed walter maciel gallery

so the doilies to the left of the framed work give you the key to what the colored stitches mean in terms of radiation exposure. HERE you'll find some scientific data that shows you that even the green -- which you might think is "safe" at 0-2, and IS in comparison to the red which is 100+ -- is not something that you want to be exposed to.

detail of thread balls 

i'm sort of in love with attaching the thread balls to the doilies and bringing them to the floor. i happened upon this completely by accident in fleeting beauty... and was waiting for another chance to utilize it. and i'm going to do it again for  a piece i'm just about to start. the implication of these doilies sort of creating themselves - and activating the floor - is something that is just too exciting for me to quit now.

gambatte ne, 2012, graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, felt, pins, machine stitching on paper and duralar, 20 ½ x 28 ¼ inches framed

then i did 3 pieces that depict fu-go balloon bombs. used by japan in WWII - it was their attempt to attack the US mainland. the above piece charts the jet streams that brought the balloons over to us, and also charts the mileage between the launching areas in japan and the 5 places in the US where the bombs landed whole and complete.

the US press and government did an AMAZING job covering up any news of the fu-go. because the japanese were unable to ascertain if any of the balloons were effective or landing they gave up on the project after only 6 months. had they continued to launch balloons, they might have generated a somewhat successful campaign.

may 5, 1945, 2012, graphite, acrylic, felt, pins, machine stitching on paper and duralar12 ½ x 16 ½ inches framed

in this piece i memorialize the only lives lost to fu-go. 6 lives were lost on may 5, 1945 when a priest and his wife were taking 5 children on a picnic in gearhardt mountain in oregon [indicated on a map in the lower right]. the kids discovered an intact bomb and it blew up - killing everyone but the priest.

detail of balloon

mapping of fu-go landings,  2012 , embroidery on felt,  54 x 77 inches

and in this piece i mark the over 200 pieces of balloon bombs that were discovered in the lower 48 [there were parts found in canada, alaska and mexico as well]. i used a dotted red line - 1. because in old WWII books when they depict bomb targets they often use a dotted line which just immediately reminds me of stitching. and 2. because it imitates the japanese flag.

this piece was a bit of a cray thing for me to engineer. it was a lot of trial and error. i wanted it to be a more like a quilt [warmth/protection] and out of felt [think beuys and army/war = felt]. but of course i didn't have any patterns to follow. i wanted the states w/ bomb pieces to be slightly differentiated. 

i literally sat on my floor and just cut out states and pieced them together. originally i thought that i could just stitch the outlines of the empty states on the background [and i knew i wanted a funky pieced askew background from the beginning]. but when i did that it looked stupid. so after i spent all the time stitching those states i had to restitch them with applique states to get the above effect. the sort of blended, but not really effect. [that is the technical term for it i think]. 

detail

the trickiest part was making the states that met at a seam line keep that seam [so that it still looked funky and pieced]. but finally - after many struggles and a last minute hectic ordering of more felt in a certain color [i had to order it from 2 sources in order to get the color scheme right] - it was complete !

i sort of want to do other mappings of the US now since i know how to do it... heh heh. 

so there you have it... my show. you can see the all the photos on flickr - eventually i'll add them to my website. if you get to see the show in person i would love to know what you think ! till next time ....