Iwaki city, Fukushima
When we arrived at the exhibition venue, some of the nine artists who are showing their works had already arrived and were ready to set up the room. It is always delightful to meet with people whom you had been praying for without knowing their faces or their personal stories. When I entered the room I got excited even just by seeing their faces for the first time and by the opportunity to get to know them a little bit this weekend.
Midori told us before we came that most of the artists working on the project had told her in their earlier meeting in Tokyo last month that it had been hard for them to work toward this tight deadline since their first gathering in Fukushima last November. Time is always short when you are working on a big project like this. But more importantly, they were personally affected by what they had seen and heard during the 24 hour visit in Fukushima in November. The intensity and devastation of the triple-disaster in Fukushima made them weep deeply. Producing visual images of such devastation and grief and lament isn't easy. Furthermore, crafting a message of hope and future out of ashes and darkness must take some sort of divine creativity collaborating with human hands. I witnessed the power of such occasions today.
We spent the whole afternoon together with seven artists, hanging their works on the wall, putting spotlights, and discussing their works. Of course, I took photos and recorded some conversations.
Bible and Art
Machida Toshiyuki is one of the participating artists. He's also the founder of Bible & Art Ministries in Japan. He produced three works of graphic images from 17th century images of Jesus, one of which is a collage of paintings with a photo of himself wearing the protective suit during his visit to Fukushima. He and the other artists visited highly radiated areas just 4 KM outside Fukushima Daiichi plant, wearing white protective suits for observation and group reflection as part of the preparation for this exhibition (see the photo below).
"My job as a Christian artist is to make invisible God visible, bringing beauty into our world. Jesus came to earth to make God visible. Even after his resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven in a very visible way. He will come back to earth in the same way too," said the graphic artist who was once a pastor.
Machida accepted Jesus when he was in university as a young artist but he soon gave up the calling of artist because he thought there was only one way to become a "better" Christian: leave the worldly profession and pursue theological education and pastoral ministry. At least, that was the advice he was getting from all Christian leaders and mentors of that time. While he was in pastoral ministry, he discovered that his true calling was to be an artist. He resigned from the church and started again as an artist and founded Bible and Art Ministries in Japan 19 years ago. It was an even more lonely path than the first decision that he had made to follow Christ as a university student because nobody in the church understood his calling to become an artist once again, but as a Christian.
"There is no cookie cutter Christian. When you understand your own gifts and your sphere where God has placed you in the world, you pursue that gift. That's the best way to become Christian, in your own unique way." A costly lesson he learned.
Machida's passion for Bible and Art is now expressed through teaching in university, collaborating with Christian artists and producing his own works. "We, Christians, value only invisible things when we talk about faith. We do not value visible, physical and material things. But that is dangerous. When we deny the visible, we will end up denying the invisible."
