Students act for Japan

Nearly two months after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit the Tohoku region of Japan on March 11, students at Portland State organized an art exhibition last weekend to raise awareness and support of the tragedy.

The exhibit, which featured work by PSU faculty and students, was held on Friday and Saturday in Neuberger Hall’s Autzen Gallery.

Organized by international student Shihomi Seki, along with two other students, “Act for Japan from PDX” featured 89 works by 35 different artists from PSU’s Art Department. All of the work was up for auction, and the proceeds went to MercyCorps’ Japan relief effort.

“Right after the earthquake happened, I was thinking about what to do to help,” Seki said. “Some other Japanese students were already raising money, but I wanted to do something different, and [since] I like art, I thought this would be great way to help.”

Seki is an economics major, but is currently taking art and marketing classes at PSU. To get things started, she sent an e-mail to the faculty in PSU’s Art Department, whom she said were eager to lend their art to the exhibit.

Since the earthquake, Seki observed that Portland very quickly showed its support for Japan, with several fundraising events organized by students at PSU.

“When I told people in Japan about how supportive Portland was, they were very surprised,” Seki said.

Suelki Park, a friend of Seki who helped in organizing the event, said immediately after the earthquake, she noticed many students console their classmates who are from Japan.

“This is a great way to help, and for people to check out art works,” Park said.

Seki originally came from Hokkaido, an island off the northern coast of Japan that was not affected by the earthquake. However, her parents currently live in Sendai, one of the areas that was hit the hardest by the tsunami.

In the first few days following the earthquake, Seki was unable to establish communication with her parents. The 21-year-old student said she was very worried and tried to contact her brother, who lives in Tokyo.

Although her parents are safe, she learned that many of her relatives’ houses were destroyed in the tsunami. In early May, Seki said she plans to go back to Japan to visit her parents and friends in Sendai.

“I want to sell all the art and raise some money,” Seki said.  ?