These images have been made in the wake of the huge earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011 and the subsequent tsunami and meltdown at Fukushima. They are being added to as we journey further into the unchartered territory these events have brought us into.
As a direct visual response to the immense destruction and suffering that these events brought and continue through, the images were made initially with the intent of carrying prayers for the people and land. As time has passed the visions accompanying this intent have taken on a more visceral and uncompromising character, perhaps as a direct instinctive response to the growing reality of the disaster, one in which the subconscious has a more resounding and, in the circumstances, truthful voice. This has come in spite of the continued cover up meted out by the authorities involved, their own endorsed media outlets and the blanket avoidance of coverage in the MSM. But, it is through the body, both ours and, by extension, the body of nature, that this voice becomes increasingly tangible and the effects of global irradiation unavoidably present, and in this sense the subconscious speaks as the voice of the body-mind, uncensored regardless the constraints of cultural, political and social norms.
Regardless the dis/mis-information at work in the orthodox channels the reality of Fukushima is destined to become increasingly tangible to us all in time. Artwork has the ability to present such truths, in ways that are evidential in themselves, perhaps allowing us to acknowledge at a much deeper level than mere facts and ‘proof’ alone just how we are being impacted.
Widely shared on the internet, these images have brought many heartfelt responses – as an artist I felt it was, and is, the least I could do, but, the power of our creativity to connect and convey through visualisation a broad range of feelings that may extend beyond our words and the twin monopolies of the intellect and material dialectics is somehow borne out in this – the generation of corrective healing and the energy of veracity is always available through working with this power……
For more comments and thoughts on the creation of the drawn and painted images included in the slideshow above go to Drawing On Fukushima…..
ROB PURDAY 
Hesitating to put words on the canvas here for fear of damning with faint praise. I can’t find words enough to say how those pictures have moved me, on a visceral level. I’m not surprised that they were so widely appreciated on the internet and only sorry that I missed them at the time. Thank you for your beautiful medicine pictures that hold your heartsome prayers, Rob.