Ingo Günther, who is one of the participating artists of the project, Shinya Watanabe and Koh Sato who is a victim of the disaster and also a volunteer staff of the project headed for Rikuzentakata. Ingo was in Odaiba when the earthquake struck and was very moved by the event. He will be a driving force and a key person for this project. Koh Sato is from the disaster-stricken area and lost his mother by the earthquake. He joined this project to send a realistic message to the world as a person who experienced the disaster.

This visit to the area was realized by strong desire from Ingo Günther. He was shocked by the disaster but also asked himself what he could do as an artist after the disaster. Shinya Watanabe mentioned that a conversation with Koh Sato who lost his mother in the disaster had a great impact on Günther’s work which will be shown in the exhibition. We are hoping that his hope for the recovery of the area and the experience of seeing the devastated area will be reflected in his work.

Ingo was touched by rows of pine trees in Tohoku in the past, and he planted five pine tree seedlings at the end of this trip.