The 3.11 Portrait Project is a cultural and educational initiative aimed at remembering and honouring the victims and survivors of the catastrophic events that took place in Japan in March 2011. As its name suggests, it involves portraits of the survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

On April 27, the portraits were presented by project leader and photographer Nobuyuki Kobayashi to a class at a local elementary school. He gave an interactive presentation of the photographs he took, asking the children to share their impressions, and explaining the context of each image. His audience was made up of 96 sixth-graders from the Takaido Primary School in Tokyo.

The goal was to have the children understand the circumstances and the think of the disaster survivors who exerted all their strength toward recovery efforts, and who regained their cheerfulness through the portrait photographs. It was also to have the students think of what they could do to help support the people in the affected area.

Thirty of the portrait photographs are being exhibited at Takaido Primary School for the time being, and they are thinking of holding a special class to have the students write letters to the survivors pictured in the photographs.

Another presentation of the 3.11 Portrait Project will be held at another Tokyo-area primary school at the end of June.

This project and its tour through primary schools is supported by BNP Paribas Cardif Japan. We’ll let you know if the 3.11 Portrait Project continues its tour in the coming weeks!