{"id":5946,"date":"2012-03-30T05:57:39","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T11:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/?p=5946"},"modified":"2012-04-17T08:21:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T13:21:49","slug":"truth-well-told-interview-with-art-photographer-jan-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/30\/truth-well-told-interview-with-art-photographer-jan-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth Well Told &#8211; Interview with Art Photographer Jan Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n                            <\/a>\n                        <\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/30\/truth-well-told-interview-with-art-photographer-jan-smith\/\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\"  width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div><h1>A Truth Well Told \u00a0ART ART &amp; ENTERTAINMENT\u00a030 MARCH &#8211; 20 APRIL 12 .THE BIG ISSUE. 35.<\/h1>\n<p><a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.bigissue.org.za\/issue-194\/issue-194');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.bigissue.org.za\/issue-194\/issue-194\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5947\" title=\"Big issue\" src=\"http:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Big-issue-300x266.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Big-issue-300x266.jpg 300w, https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Big-issue-337x300.jpg 337w, https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Big-issue.jpg 499w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Mexican photographer Jan\u00a0Smith made it his mission\u00a0to show the world the untold\u00a0human stories behind nuclear\u00a0disasters. To coincide with the first anniversary\u00a0of Japan\u2019s Fukushima nuclear disaster\u00a0in March, Smith brought his <em>Nuclear\u00a0<\/em><em>Disaster Stories <\/em>exhibition to Cape Town in\u00a0partnership with the <a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/koebergalert.org\/');\"  href=\"http:\/\/koebergalert.org\/\">Koeberg Alert Alliance<\/a>.\u00a0Smith\u2019s debut exhibition in South Africa\u00a0included a world-first release of images taken\u00a0in <a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.smithjan.com\/fukushima.html');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.smithjan.com\/fukushima.html\">Fukushima<\/a> in February. <strong><a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.femeggers.nl\/');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.femeggers.nl\/\">by Fem Eggers\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Truth Well Told:\u00a0[Fem Eggers] What drew you to\u00a0<\/strong><strong>this project?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>[Jan Smith] In 2009, I was invited to do a\u00a0photo essay on Chernobyl. Though abandoned\u00a0places had long intrigued me in my\u00a0work, I had not considered Chernobyl\u00a0before. I went to <a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.smithjan.com\/pripyat.html');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.smithjan.com\/pripyat.html\">Pripyat<\/a> [the city created in\u00a01970 to house workers from the Chernobyl\u00a0Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine] which\u00a0has remained abandoned since the nuclear\u00a0disaster in 1986. While there I realized there\u00a0is so much more to tell than stories about\u00a0radiation and cancer. I took photos at a nursery\u00a0where everything was pretty much left\u00a0untouched, as it had been 25 years ago;\u00a0storybooks, toys, notebooks. That made it\u00a0very personal for me. After that I wanted to\u00a0tell people\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Truth Well Told:\u00a0[FE] What do you hope to achieve?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>[JS] The project is all about creating awareness\u00a0around alternatives to nuclear energy. I\u00a0see this as a civic duty. I was never an activist,\u00a0but once you have looked at the numbers,\u00a0at what happens when it goes wrong,\u00a0then you see the intelligent thing to do is to\u00a0choose alternatives. When nuclear goes\u00a0wrong, it goes tremendously wrong.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Truth Well Told:\u00a0[FE] Which image has moved you\u00a0<\/strong><strong>the most?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.bigissue.org.za\/latest-issue');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.bigissue.org.za\/latest-issue\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5951\" title=\"Screen Shot 2012-04-17 at 8.19.13 AM\" src=\"http:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Screen-Shot-2012-04-17-at-8.19.13-AM-222x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"222\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Screen-Shot-2012-04-17-at-8.19.13-AM-222x300.png 222w, https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Screen-Shot-2012-04-17-at-8.19.13-AM.png 237w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/a>[JS] A photo of the remnants of the Hina\u00a0Matsuri Festival [Japanese Doll Festival, or\u00a0Girls\u2019 Day] in Japan, where people traditionally\u00a0display dolls in their houses. The festival\u00a0took place one week before the tsunami\u00a0and subsequent nuclear disaster in <a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.smithjan.com\/fukushima.html');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.smithjan.com\/fukushima.html\">Fukushima<\/a>,\u00a0and in some abandoned homes the dolls are\u00a0still laid out. When I went into <a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/www.smithjan.com\/fukushima.html');\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.smithjan.com\/fukushima.html\">Fukushima<\/a> I\u00a0didn\u2019t know about the festival at first, so\u00a0when I found a doll I thought, \u2018That\u2019s interesting\u2019.\u00a0Then I found a second doll and\u00a0thought it was coincidence. When I found\u00a0the third doll, I knew I was onto something;\u00a0it became sort of a mystery. To me, though,\u00a0it\u2019s not just evidence left behind \u2014 it\u2019s a part\u00a0of the personal stories of the victims and survivors\u00a0of that disaster that was overlooked or\u00a0forgotten.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Truth Well Told:\u00a0[FE] How would you respond to\u00a0<\/strong><strong>criticism that you are \u2018sensationalizing\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><strong>nuclear disasters?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>[JS] I don&#8217;t think I am sensationalising at all.\u00a0Most nuclear-related photography focuses\u00a0on deformities and cancer caused by radiation.\u00a0I take a more aesthetic and historical\u2014 even archaeological \u2014 angle. I want to\u00a0draw people in and show them that the human\u00a0stories go so much deeper than radiation.<\/p>\n<p><em>*Jan Smith\u2019s Nuclear Disaster Stories exhibition\u00a0<\/em><em>in Cape Town has now closed, but you can view\u00a0<\/em><em>his work at www.smithjan.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Truth Well Told:\u00a0ART ART &amp; ENTERTAINMENT\u00a030 MARCH &#8211; 20 APRIL 12 .THE BIG ISSUE. 35<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Truth Well Told \u00a0ART ART &amp; ENTERTAINMENT\u00a030 MARCH &#8211; 20 APRIL 12 .THE BIG ISSUE. 35. Mexican photographer Jan\u00a0Smith made it his mission\u00a0to show the world the untold\u00a0human stories behind nuclear\u00a0disasters. To coincide with the first anniversary\u00a0of Japan\u2019s Fukushima nuclear disaster\u00a0in March, Smith brought his Nuclear\u00a0Disaster Stories exhibition to Cape Town in\u00a0partnership with the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/30\/truth-well-told-interview-with-art-photographer-jan-smith\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Truth Well Told &#8211; Interview with Art Photographer Jan Smith&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[185,492,49,1017,1016,1018],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5957,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions\/5957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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