On March 11, 2011, an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude devastated the northeast coast of Japan. This catastrophe will shock and question a new generation of photographers: how can images convey a nightmarish reality? What role should the photographer play? How can we evoke the trauma, but also rehabilitation and reconstruction? How can radioactivity be made visible?

This collective book, edited by Philippe Séclier and Amada Marina, tackles these questions through the work of twelve photographers, whose practice was totally reconsidered after the tragedy. The result is images showing the desolation of the site, the displacement of populations and social discrimination caused by the nuclear accident, artistic gestures that reveal signs of resistance and resilience.

The series of the twelve photographers - introduced for each corpus by an artist's statement - speak of reconstruction and reinterrogate the status of the medium: from the daguerreotype to photomontage, via serial presentations, in the form of contact sheets or composite panoramic images. A double introduction by the two editorial directors and three texts (in French) evoking the events of March 11, 2011 accompany this visual corpus.