Fukushima Biennial 2012
Japanese Garden, Fukushima, Japan
“Survival,” consisted of eleven pinecones cast in hydrocal. They were placed around the Japanese garden across the Fukushima airport for visitors to “discover,” as they walk around the garden. Pinecones are known to sprout after natural disasters like mountain fire. This installation paid homage to a pine tree, which became known as the “miracle lone pine tree,”after the tsunami hit the coastline on March 11th 2011, which killed more than 20,000 people in Japan. This is a sole surviving tree out of 70,000 pine trees, that once existed in Rikuzen-Takada in Iwate Prefecture, which were planted more than two centuries ago.