Japanese citizens help with reopening of Linwood Arts

Japanese school children folding cranes. Photo: Supplied
Japanese school children folding cranes. Photo: Supplied
Japanese citizens livings on islands devastated by atomic bombs in World War II have banded together to produce the focal point of the reopening of Linwood Arts at the Eastside Gallery on the anniversary of the September earthquake.

“Aftershocks” commemorates 10 years since the September 4 earthquake and was conceived by Christchurch artist Valerie Campbell, who was motivated by Japanese who folded 9000 paper cranes, a process which started after the February, 2011 earthquake.

“Crane birds are admired in Japan because they live as long as 75 years, and because they find a partner with which to mate for life,” Campbell said.

“The folding of cranes is a meditative activity. They are threaded together into long chains of interlocking figures to make the senbazuru, which resemble colourful streamers when bunched together.”

Since the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, senbazuru have become symbols of hope and peace - the two cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu respectively display them when commemorating events.

The senbazuru for the exhibition in the Eastside Gallery at Linwood Arts on Worcester St were folded by inhabitants in Kagashima (Kyushu) and Christchurch's sister city Kurashiki (Honshu).

Campbell, who was living in Japan in 2011, said the gesture was especially poignant as the production continued after the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged parts of Japan in March that year.

She was presented with the origami cranes before she returned to New Zealand and will distribute them to visitors at the exhibition, which runs until September 19.

The exhibition also showcases work by local artists Judy Rogers, Sandra Beltman, Sue Hely, Viv Nixon, Steven Sorer, Shelley Valentine, Dorothy Shrimpton and Rae Manson.