The Red Kimono photographic portrait series was conceived as a response to the nuclear catastrophe unleashed at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, ongoing since March 2011.

Radiation does not recognise national boundaries. Radioactive particles from Fukushima have been continually dispersed around the globe, in varying degrees, by the winds and ocean currents and by the rain and snow formed from the ocean waters.

The work is intended as a gesture of solidarity with all those suffering as a result of this ongoing, multi-faceted catastrophe. It is also an attempt to help to raise awareness, and to elicit questions, via the use of provocative, attention-grabbing imagery and a selection of memoirs and letters by evacuees from Fukushima.

Those who participate as models are all artists and/or activists of some kind, both male and female, diverse in age, nationality and racial heritage. Each participant is painted with geisha-style makeup and dressed in the same vintage red kimono before being photographed.

The diversity of the participants is intended to reflect the fact that everyone on the planet, regardless of race, nationality, culture, age and gender has been affected in some way and to some degree by this catastrophe. This could be the physical consequences of breathing, drinking or eating one or more of the radioactive particles from the destroyed reactors. And/or it could be some degree of psychological, emotional, social, political and economic consequence.

赤い着物をモチーフにしたポートレート写真のアイデアは、2011年3月の福島第一原発事故、そして今も続く危機的な状況を踏まえて生まれました。

放射能に国境は関係ありません。放射性物質は気流や、やがて雨や雪となる海水の流れによって、程度の差はありながらも世界中に拡散し続けています。

人種、国籍、文化、年齢、性別に関わらず、地球上の誰もが何らかの形で福島第一原発事故の影響を受けているのです。それは、拡散した放射性物質を呼吸時に体内に取り込んだり、汚染された飲食物を摂取したりすることによる身体的な影響かもしれませんし、心理的、感情的、社会的、政治的、経済的な影響かもしれません。

Red Kimono にモデルとして参加した人々は皆、アーティストや活動家の側面を持つ男性や女性で、年齢、国籍、人種的背景はさまざまです。どのモデルも芸者スタイルの化粧を施し、ビンテージの赤い着物に身を包んだ姿で撮影に臨みました。

information about exhibitions of Red Kimono here

some of the 30 portraits are  here

The series began in 2014 with this portrait of Rik