On 11 March 2011, a massive undersea earthquake struck off the Japanese coast, triggering a catastrophic tsunami and a nuclear power station meltdown. These images of the giant wave running straight towards the coast of Sendai began as Kentaro Yamada’s screenshots of television news broadcasts. He reproduced them using the dyeline printing method for making architectural blueprints. Both paper and ink will slowly fade over time. Recalling Hokusai’s famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1830–3), they are ephemeral and strangely beautiful; reminders of the vulnerability that haunts and connects us all.

(Te Wheke, 2020)