Weekly Giveaway : A little help from our friends…
The tragic earthquake in Japan last week, brought a shudder to us all as the video of the devastation began to air on every news outlet.
Unless you have been incommunicado since then, you have been exposed to power of mother nature not only with the shifting of the earths plates but the tsunami that followed, reaching all the way to Hawaii.
The global community has come out to help in many different ways, and the photographic world has been active as well.
James Nachtway was on the scene very fast, and made these images, relayed through Time.
And then this personal message came in from one of our readers:
A photographic initiative to help the people of Japan
by Fred Bonilla
I woke up on Friday morning as we all did to the horrible news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As my heart broke seeing the initial video feeds of the incredible damage,I gasped when I heard that the epicenter was very close to the area where my brother Roberto, his wife Keiko and infant daughter Dali (named after Salvador) lived, in the village of Omagari in Miyagi. A day of frantic emailing,Facebook posts and tweets resulted in hearing from them some 24 hours later. Shaken up by the initial quake and numerous aftershocks, they are ok nonetheless, having averted much of the damage living some distance from the coastline where much of the area was just washed away. Keiko has still not been able to contact her family after 3 days, but are hopeful that they are still alive and well.
Thankful that they are in good shape for now, my thoughts turned to how I could reach out to help. I came across the efforts of Crista Nix of the Wall-Space Gallery in Santa Barbara,Ca who along with Fine Arts photographer Aline Smithson wanted to do something that involved fellow members of the creative community with a similar desire to reach out. Out of that desire, Life-Support Japan was born, with over 700 artists donating limited edition prints to be sold online. The proceeds of the sale will go to Habitat for Humanity,Japan for the rebuilding of communities in northern Japan & Direct relief International, which will assist in medical supplies.
The price of individual images are just $50, and in just 48 hours, they have already raised over $10,000. The list of creative artists is staggering and the images are amazing. I have donated an image of mine, called “Shrine” that was shown in multimedia shows at Look 3 & the Musee D’Lysee. It shows a makeshift shrine my parents made of images of my grandfather & uncle in their apartment in NYC.
I ask that you take a moment to go to the Life-Support Japan site, check out the images and for a very reasonable price, pick up 1 or 2. If you can’t, spread the word. The outpouring of images from generous artists will insure that plenty of images will be available for as long as the benefit will last (till April 30th). My many thanks to Ms.Nix & Ms.Smithson for their tireless efforts to this initiative and to all the photographers and artists who contributed their works.And please say a prayer for Roberto, Keiko,their baby girl and all the people of Japan.”
Here is the site.
This morning, we bought a print.
© Noelle Swan Gilbert
And we’d like to buy you one. One of you anyway.
Just sign up for the free weekly Newsletter (you can do that at the top right hand corner of this page)
tomorrow morning there will be all o the info you need in an email for you.
You pick the print you’d like, we pick up the tab, and the money goes towards a good cause.
Win-Win-Win.
You may get tempted to buy some other prints while you’re there.
Don’t resist. Buy.
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An update since the post was originally written…My daughter in law’s family are safe,although for they had some rough going the first couple of days. And my brother, wife and baby girl are fine as well. Many, however are still suffering and they will need extensive help for a long time to come.
Thanks for the kinds words and prayers from friends & strangers alike; Please continue to pray for the people of Japan, and give in any way you can.