In the wake of the earthquakes and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, overwhelming images of intense devastation emerged in media coverage. Some critics aptly called the visuals psychedelic, explicit, and heart-breaking. Visions of such power and relentless destruction are at once horrifically potent, yet through overexposure the images threaten to alienate and desensitize their viewers. How can the gulf between observation and experience be overcome, so that shock yields to action?

From the beginning we have questioned how designers can best effect change. As a non-profit design firm working with underrepresented communities in the United States and Africa, we recognize the need to reconcile seemingly disparate cultures and world views. Reciprocity is born out of witnessing and participating in these multiple worlds in tangible ways. The potential nuclear crisis serves as a reminder that misfortune is not borne by only one person, one people, or one nation in isolation. In Art=Relief, we harness the power of art images – the fantastic, the realistic, the imaginary, and the documentary – to celebrate convergence. The exhibit and auction was organized to benefit the Japan’s Society Earthquake Relief Fund, but the event also encompasses a larger idea about the interconnectedness we share and the ways in which artists expose this expansive relationship. 

This exhibition and fundraiser is made possible by contributions from 37 artist, and area organizations and is being held at Studio X in New York with assistance from the Urban Landscape Lab. Through their work, they have found a way to bring one community together, in service of other communities a world apart.