The Japan Earthquake – Through Children’s Eyes

Almost one year ago today, the Japan Earthquake and successive tsunamis ravaged the Tohoku region, devastating much of the eastern coastline. For months, we were glued to the news, to YouTube videos, to tweets and blog posts that gave us a personal, inside look into what happens during, and after, such a catastrophic event.  As we think back to one year ago, images of destruction and unrelenting waves of sea, sludge, and sadness come to mind.  However, as the receding tides revealed the full extent of the damage, incredible strength, unity, optimism and hope emerged from the debris.

In November 2011, eight months after the tragedy, Italian photographer/sociologist Giacomo Pirozzi traveled to the region as part of the “EYE SEE” program, an ongoing collaboration between Sony and UNICEF, to conduct photography workshops with 27 local children – helping them learn how to capture and tell their remarkable stories through the power of imagery. While the subject of their work is the same event portrayed in the coverage we’ve all seen, their images convey a very different perspective, as we see Japan through the eyes of its children struggling to make sense of what happened to them.

The “EYE SEE” program began in 2006 to teach children faced with difficult circumstances how to express themselves through photography. By providing the right tools and training, the children learn not only how to capture, caption, and share their experiences, but also how to cope with the emotional and physical hardships they face as they look to brighter futures ahead. This year, Giacomo worked side-by-side with children from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures in Tohoku – the places most directly impacted by the disaster – to help them begin the healing process, one frame at a time.