At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, northeastern Japan was struck by a powerful earthquake centered some 24 kilometers beneath the sea and about 130 kilometers east-southeast of the Oshika Peninsula. The Great East Japan Earthquake, as it has come to be known, is estimated to have had a magnitude of 9.0, the largest ever measured in Japan. It triggered a massive tsunami that wreaked havoc along northern Japan’s Pacific Coast, particularly in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures. Even leaving aside the material damage, the human cost of the quake and tsunami—15,900 dead, 2,520 missing—makes it one of the most tragic earthquake disasters known to history.I first visited the seriously affected region in the summer of 2011.I went for two reasons: I felt uneasy about my lack of a sense of reality about a catastrophe that had happened in my own country; and I wanted to confirm with my own eyes what the actual situation in the stricken areas was. I began creating works dealing with the Great East Japan Earthquake not long after the disaster struck.

"Flooring" is a series of photographs of the flooring of houses destroyed by the tsunami that ensued from the quake. I saw the flooring as symbolic of the fact that this had been a place of human life and activity, and the scars on it as traces of the prodigious energy of the quake. The scars could have been made by timber, cars, or even people as they were swept away by the tsunami. To keep memories of this disaster from fading, I think it is important to keep creating and exhibiting works on this theme.

　２０１１年３月１１日１４時４６分、牡鹿半島の東南東約１３０キロ、深さ約２４キロを震源とする東北地方太平洋沖地震が発生。マグニチュード９．０と国内観測史上最大規模の地震となり、地震に連動して発生した巨大津波は岩手県、宮城県、福島県など、太平洋沿岸部に甚大な被害をもたらした。この地震による人的被害だけでも死者１万５９００人、行方不明者２５２０人という未曾有の大震災となった。被災地へ向かったきっかけは、同じ国で起こった出来事に現実感の無いことに違和感があったことと、被災地の現状を自身の眼で確認しておきたかったからだ。東北地方太平洋沖地震を題材にした作品は、震災後に制作を開始。

　作品“Flooring”は、地震に連動して発生した津波の被害に遭った住宅の床材を撮影したものである。床材は人の営みがその場所にあったことを象徴的に表すものであり、床材についた傷跡は、地震の巨大なエネルギーを表す痕跡だと考えた。床材の傷は津波によって流された木材や自動車、もしかすると人が流された時についた傷ということも考えられる。震災の記憶を風化させないためにも、作品を制作し続け発表していく事が大切なことであると考える。