Keijiro Suga
Professor of Digital Content Studies, Meiji University
“Invisible Waves: Japanese Artists After March 11, 2011”
The Great East Japan Earthquake and the following accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was probably the gravest trauma since WW II that the Japanese society has undergone. We are still living its aftermath with no way out in sight. Many artists have responded seriously in their work, defying an unexpected horizon looming over them. As a poet, I too have gone through a radical shift in my writing. Here I am taking up some Japanese artists from different genres to discuss the common ground they have to create meaningful works. Artists to be discussed include Hatakeyama Naoya (photography), Katagiri Atsunobu (flower arrangement), Okabe Masao (frottage), and Takayama Akira (theater). Along with a presentation of their works, I will read my own poems that I wrote before and after March 11.
Professor Keijiro Suga is a renowned Japanese poet, writer, and translator (French/Spanish/English to Japanese). He is author of many books, including Strangeography (2013), The Moon When the Wolves Run Together (2012), The Rain that Falls on the Sea (2012), The Water of the Island, the Fire of the Island (2011), AgendʼArs (2010), among others. He has also translated works of fiction, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. In 2011, Professor Suga was awarded the Yomiuri Prize for Literature for his travel essay, Transversal Journeys (2009). He is a professor of Digital Content Studies at Meiji University
Thursday, May 5, 2016 • 4:10pm • Taylor Science Center 3024
