Day: November 13, 2023

Categories
nuclear

Fukushima 0n-going

The 2011 disaster at Fukushima continues and shows no sign of being cleaned up within any of our lifetimes. In that year, almost inconceivably the whole of central Japan was almost rendered uninhabitable with the possible evacuation of 50 million people being seriously considered by the Japanese government.

The Netflix drama, The Days certainly captures the sense of disaster (I found it rather slow for drama but then is it entertainment?) and correctly states that no one knows why the reactors didn’t continue to meltdown, destroying half of Japan. Fukushima now pours irradiated water into the Pacific and since there are no solutions in sight that will continue, perhaps with pauses, for the foreseeable future.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the sales force for nuclear power continues to promote nukes large and small, regardless of the disasters and in denial about the carnage, death and destruction wrought by Chernobyl and Fukushima, just two incidents, neither of which can they in any way deal with.

Categories
art

Meltdown

After a busy few days in London, several art galleries as well as street actions culminating in the gigantic – 800,000 peaceful folk – Palestine demo I’m doing some sewing, revising some old ideas. Meltdown, a series of fabric pieces, embellished, embroidered and heavily stitched, begun in 2015 as a response to the disaster at Fukushima (2011 on-going).

Meltdown pieces at the sewing machine, about 20 x 20 cm

The subtlety of colour and stitch is rather lost in these photos.

I enjoy creating something – maybe not beautiful but hopefully of interest – using the tiniest of scraps picked up from the studio floor or stuffed away in waste bags.

Most of the thread I use for larger pieces or clothes (rare now) is organic cotton which is a little heavier than ordinary cotton, but for this work rayon, made from wood pulp is perfectly good. Not a plug just that these are widely available, Marathon rayon threads are very low cost and although they can be a little weak for some work they have a pleasant lustre and strength isn’t an issue here.