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Hilda Hellstrom Crafts Radioactive Pottery With Soil From Fukushima
Posted By Lori Zimmer On December 28, 2012 @ 9:56 am In Art,carousel showcase,environmental destruction | No Comments
Working with The Foreign Correspondence Club Japan, Hellstrom learned of Naoto Matsumura, a native of the Fukushima area. Refusing to leave the affected zone near the Daiji power plant , Matsumura is the last man living in Fukushima’s evacuated zone.
Once Hellstrom was put into contact with Matsumura, she documented his day to day life in the radioactive zone  for four days, snapping pictures as she got to know the 52 year old farmer who has dedicated his life to taking care of the pets and cattle left behind in the evacuated area.
Visiting the affected area for days, Hellstrom collected soil from the contaminated rice fields. Still slightly radioactive, the designer sculpted the soil into a series of five pieces of pottery . A serving dish, bowl, vase, water glass and covered container resemble artifacts that could have been discovered on an archeological dig.
The product of Hellstrom’s experience with Matsumura and at the Fukushima area, the food vessels make something useful from the wasteland and create a new tactile symbol of the historical disaster  in the same way a chunk of the Berlin Wall symbolizes its intense history.
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URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/hilda-hellstrom-makes-pottery-bowls-from-radioactive-soil-near-fukushima/
URLs in this post:
 Hilda Hellstrom: http://www.hildahellstrom.se/The-Materiality-of-a-Natural-Disaster-VESSELS
 nuclear meltdown in Japan.: http://inhabitat.com/japan-announces-official-cold-shutdown-of-damaged-reactors-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant/
 radioactive soil: http://inhabitat.com/14000-us-deaths-linked-to-radiation-leaks-at-damaged-fukushima-nuclear-reactor-in-japan/
 : http://inhabitat.com/hilda-hellstrom-makes-pottery-bowls-from-radioactive-soil-near-fukushima/hilda-hellstrom-radioactive-vessels2/?extend=1
 Image: http://inhabitat.com/hilda-hellstrom-makes-pottery-bowls-from-radioactive-soil-near-fukushima/hilda-hellstrom-radioactive-vessels7/
 Daiji power plant: http://inhabitat.com/fukushima-power-plant-may-still-be-leaking-radiation-as-fish-test-high-levels/
 radioactive zone: http://inhabitat.com/radioactive-concrete-from-fukushima-found-in-new-japanese-building/
 pieces of pottery: http://inhabitat.com/heath-ceramics-sustainable-pottery-pieces-will-complement-any-contemporary-home/
 historical disaster: http://inhabitat.com/tag/fukushima-daiichi-power-plant/
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