20 millisieverts per year

About

In October 2016 Lis participated in a study tour of Fukushima, organised by Green Cross Switzerland*. This is an exhibition of photographs taken while on the tour, and texts which include statements by the people she met.

'20 millisieverts per year' is the third exhibition of this work, hosted by Stop Hinkley: http://stophinkley.org/aboutSH.htm

An audiovisual work, also titled '20 millisieverts per year,' (56 mins) will be screened during the launch reception at 19:00 on 23 January 2018. . Made in response to Lis's images and texts, the work combines a soundscape by Cian Ciarán of Super Furry Animals and Meilyr Tomos, member of his first band, with a video by creative collective ffloc, and video footage of Fukushima by Lis. 

In March 2011 an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. This resulted in radioactive fallout contaminating at least 8% of the land surface of Japan and the evacuation of 164,865 people.

After six years the catastrophe continues, despite extensive remediation efforts and spiralling costs. As well as the unresolved crises at the Daiichi nuclear plant itself, urban and rural areas remain highly contaminated and severe physical, psychological, social, and economic consequences continue to unfold for many people. 

In most of Japan, as in the rest of the world, the maximum permitted non-occupational dose of ionising radiation to a citizen is 1 millisievert per year. This is the standard recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

However, following the 2011 nuclear disaster, the annual threshold was raised to 20 millisieverts per year for citizens of Fukushima. This puts enormous pressure on many of those who evacuated, compulsorily as well as voluntarily, to return to live in areas which are still contaminated, as the financial support for them to live elsewhere will be terminated in March 2017. 

Many people feel betrayed by the government as well as by those in the media and scientific and medical communities who downplay the risks and support the policy of raising the radiation exposure threshold to 20 millisieverts per year. Many people, in Japan and elsewhere, consider this to be a serious breach of human rights. 

Presented as detailed captions the exhibition texts include scientific information, statements by scientists and politicians and by some of the people Lis met in Fukushima which reveal some of ways they are responding to the catastrophe.

For more information please visit:

www.lisfields.org​

www.ffloc.com

* Green Cross Switzerland is the environmental NGO founded by Mikhail Gorbachev: http://www.greencross.ch/en/​