Tsunami - After the wave

Immediately after the tsunami on December 26, 2004 the world was inundated with images. Newspapers and TV stations all over the world flooded into the disaster zone. The pictures were often as dramatic as they were spectacular: people running, trees breaking off like matchsticks, villages scrubbed away, leaving mudflats.

For a moment the world’s attention was focused on Southeast Asia. There were fund-raising drives, aid shipments, memorial services. But just as quickly as the disaster struck, these also disappeared again. The media found new foci for their attention, new disasters that demanded a flood of images.

The presentation ‘Tsunami’, an independent component of ‘Traces & Omens’, shows the work of six photographers who experienced it. Without getting carried away by the hype, they reveal the impact of the disaster on Southeast Asia. Their images do not revolve around sensation, but contemplation. A selection of their photographs has been included in the catalog ‘Traces & Omens’.