Alejandro Chaskielberg

Otsuchi Future Memories

The tsunami that smashed into northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, was unprecedented. The fishing town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, was probably the most destroyed by the tsunami. There, roughly ten percent of the population was killed or went missing and sixty percent of residential buildings sustained damage. The Mayor at the time and many municipal officials were killed, leaving Otsuchi's administrative functions paralyzed. Amid such chaos and disorder, people started to recover the family photographs they found in the debris of the city, trying to keep safe the memory of Otsuchi.

This project presents visual documentation of destruction and loss by connecting portraits of the Otsuchi survivors with family photographs recovered from the waters, swept away by the tsunami. Color photographs and B&W colorized images are presented together in this project. However, the importance of colors becomes crucial in this approach. Colors constitute a bridge that relates the past with the present, establishing a dialogue between them.

'Otsuchi Future Memories' is a reflection of the dynamic relationship between family photographs and memories after such tragedies. The tsunami caused considerable material damage, killing people and destroying entire communities, but above all, the survivors also face the intangible loss of their memories and identities, in which family photographs play a fundamental role.

Alejandro Chaskielberg (Buenos Aires, 1977) is an independent photographer, videographer and teacher who has established a worldwide reputation for his innovative vision and sensibility that crosses the boundaries between document and art. Chaskielberg graduated from the National Institute of Cinematography of Argentina as Director of Photography. He performed advanced studies in classical music at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory (violin) and animation at the National Art Film Institute of Avellaneda.

Alejandro was named World Photographer of the Year 2011 by the World Photography Organization in London. He also received the BURN Emerging Photographer Grant by the Magnum Foundation in 2009 and the Leopold Godowsky Jr. Award by The Boston University, which recognizes excellence in the field of contemporary color photography. He was also granted, by the National Geographic Society, with the All Roads Photography Program and won the Fifth RM Iberoamerican Photobook Competition.

His work was presented at the Brighton Biennial curated by Martin Parr in 2009 and at the Daegu Photo Biennial in South Korea in 2014 and the Ballarat International Photography Biennial in Australia in 2015, as well as many photographic festivals worldwide. He has been one of the Masters of the First Latin American Masterclass organized by the World Press Photo and Master at the ISSP - International Summer School of Photography in Latvia.

Having been a TED talk speaker at the prestigious Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Chaskielberg is currently creating video installations and murals for theater and opera and also working as a cinematographer.