I revisited the Maruki Gallery on August 13th 2011, about three weeks after my first visit. August 13th was a Saturday. As such, there were more people to visit the collection on that day, including my own group, which consisted of about 10 people.
It was a pleasure to see people who were keenly interested in the collection and what it meant. There were some others who had also sacrificed their Saturday to visit this somewhat out of the way and somber if not ‘depressing’ place. Nevertheless, I think what I noted in my post ‘August 6th’ basically remains valid. Given the significance of the collection in terms of memory, many people’s interest in it seems to be marginal at best going by the low turnout even though this Saturday was much better in numbers than the last time I was here.
This time, I thought I should capture some of the details of the Marukis’ work rather than attempting to photograph entire panels. In any case, the museum staff had politely requested not to photograph the panels in their entirety. The out of context images are mere details of the vast collection; and in many ways disperses the larger narratives the artists were interested in weaving. Nevertheless, the details are my own way of refocusing on the original work, though I have clearly fragmented them in the process. They also become different artworks when fragmented in this fashion. Nevertheless, I believe that the fragments also narrate the same story, but perhaps at somewhat lessened states of intensity.
Details of the Hiroshima Panels, Nagasaki Panel, Minamata Panel, Auschwitz Panel and Rape of Nanking Panel, Maruki Museum, Saitama, 13th August 2011:
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