The Grade I listed Leper Chapel is possibly Cambridge's oldest building. Originally serving as a 12th-century sanctuary for those affected by leprosy, its dual nature as a place of both exclusion and worship resonated deeply with Dr Iza Kavedžija’s recent exhibition on the themes of loss and repair.
In place of loss: landscapes of memory and repair emerged from Dr Kavedžija’s long-term research on creativity and wellbeing. This work from the Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology had caught the attention of a group of artists from Japan – Fumio Obara, Ryusuke Ito, Tomo Ishimura and Sahoko Aki – who were looking to explore new ways of understanding disaster recovery through collaborative art practice.
The ancient Chapel proved a poignant location to display works by the four artists, who had all created art responding to Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the country. The deadly seismic activity triggered a tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeast coastline and caused reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. There was loss of life and destruction on an unprecedented scale. The aftereffects of the disaster are still keenly felt over a decade on.
The artworks were created during an artist residency in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, dealing with both the disaster and the area's long history. “When life-changing events of overwhelming loss, such as disasters and conflicts, make dwelling impossible,” says Dr Kavedžija, “creating links with the past, both near and distant, offers a way to inhabit the present moment.”
Archaeological sites like the Urajiri Shell Mound in Fukushima Prefecture have, for example, taken on new significance in the aftermath of disaster. Rather than simply preserving these sites as historical monuments, local heritage managers have reimagined them as spaces for community gathering and reflection. This approach emphasises the living, evolving nature of heritage rather than treating it merely as a record of the past.
Many of the artists had collaborated with and responded to the work of archaeologists, exploring how engagement with prehistoric evidence can help to re-establish a meaningful connection to the present moment in places of loss.
Their resulting artworks went beyond recent disaster narratives to explore Fukushima's rich historical significance. This layered approach allowed exhibition visitors to engage with multiple temporalities, from archaeological findings of the Jomon Period to recent memory.
What made this exhibition particularly distinctive was its emphasis on tactile experiences, sound installations, and visual art. Because while storytelling remains vital for making sense of traumatic events, the multisensory approaches of art can access dimensions of experience that words alone cannot capture. Exhibition visitors could engage with the complex and challenging themes through embodied, immersive and even visceral experiences.
Fumio Obara's tactile sculptural work Connecting. Minamisoma, the landscape at your fingertips brought together the ancient and contemporary, with carvings of the past landscape alongside the present-day coastline and Fukushima power plant. Tomo Ishimura's photographic works, printed on Japanese paper, captured the ghostly presence of memory in transformed landscapes. These works demonstrated how artistic practice can mediate between presence and absence, past and present.
The exhibition also included three artists from the UK – Andrew Littlejohn, Issam Kourbaj and Robert Simpkins – who offered their own creative responses, either to the landscapes of loss or to the artworks on display. Andrew Littlejohn's sound installation, for example, documented post-disaster landscapes in Minamisoma, capturing both the absence of familiar sounds and the emergence of new acoustic environments.
All artworks engaged with the complex history and fragility of the historic site, offering multisensory ways to grapple with the legacies of disaster and displacement.
The success of this exhibition reinforced Dr Kavedžija’s research findings on creativity's role in wellbeing and healing, showing how art can create meaningful connections across time, space, and culture, offering new pathways for understanding and recovery.
Find out more about In place of loss: landscapes of memory and repair (14-15 September 2024) curated by Dr Iza Kavedžija, Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology, Department of Social Anthropology.