Art Event- 1/28 Robert Knoth and Greenpace

      The event that I attended in the Boyden gallery was towards the beginning of the semester and it was a gallery talk. It featured Robert Knoth who talked to us about his project and showed us a slide show of his images that he took. He works for a company called greenpeace and the project he did was called Shadowlands. What he did was he went to Fukushima in Japan where there was a nuclear disaster and captured how peoples lives have changed. He showed us his documentary and had some videos of people and many images and talked to them about how their daily lives have changed and the horrible conditions that they are living in. Most people had to leave their homes and move to different places until their homes were safe, but many have not been able to move back home because there is nothing left of their homes. They are living in terrible conditions and even the water they have to bathe in is harmful to them. Robert Knoth captured images that showed the beauty of what used to be Fukushima and how the nuclear disaster has changed it.
     Many of the images that were hung on the wall were of some form of civilization with nature surrounding it. The image that struck me the most was of an abandoned gas station, but the lights in the vending machine were still working. There was also an image of an obviously abandoned road but the traffic lights were still working. The images that he hung on the wall were mainly nature in the environment but the images he showed us on the slideshow were more of people and interviews. Robert Knoth risked his health by going to this place to document how these people have suffered and continue to suffer. If it weren't for someone like him who is willing to risk his health to show the world what is happening, most of us would have never heard about this tragic event. I find it really inspiring as someone who would love to be a photo journalist to know that by taking pictures you can cause social change to help people who are in need and who have a hard time getting their voice heard. I really enjoyed this event and would love to see more of his work and want to keep up with this terrible tragedy.

Greenpeace International Website