Fine Art Photography Exhibit Unites the Peoples of Japan and California Across a Sea of Love

The black and white portraits are dramatic and contemporary, giving sustainability a hip and sophisticated "Vanity Fair Magazine" treatment.

(ENCINITAS, Calif.) - The "Harmonious Balance" show of fine art photography opens at Encinitas' E Street Cafe Wednesday, April 13, 7-10 pm.

Photographer, Film Maker, Environmental Activist, and Encinitas resident, Robert Lundahl's fine art photographs invoke feelings of connection and compassion in light of Japan's recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters.

"In an increasingly interconnected world we are all one. Never has this is been more evident as we share an ocean, an atmosphere, food and fisheries, thoughts and prayers, with those most directly affected by recent nuclear reactor meltdowns in Japan," Lundahl says. I was walking along Coast Highway to clear my head after reading increasingly horrifying reports about radioactive releases into the ocean, and I looked out to sea realizing we're closer that we think."

The exhibit features 5 hanging Japanese style scrolls, each comprised of images, balanced one on top of the other. On the top are pictures from popular media, adapted and stylized showing tsunami damage, fires, reactor smoke, and other iconography that people all around the world have now become familiar with. What makes the large photographs particularly unique is the imagery in the bottom frame which has been photographed on the beach near the Swamis surfing break in Encinitas, just down the street from the venue at the E Street Cafe.

Lundahl says, "I went walking on the beach one day and to my surprise found hundreds of rocks balanced atop the rip-rap protecting the sandstone cliffs. It was a stunning and beautiful scene witnessing these colorful stones delicately placed atop one another, balanced, suspended in time. How delicate and simple, precarious and fragile the scene was, and it surprised and inspired me. They looked like the Easter Island (Rapa Nui) heads, called Moai, but in miniature--faceless, but looking out to sea. It reminded me of our delicate lives, and the ecosystems that support us, "standing" with balance and harmony amid chaos and destruction.

In addition to the 5 large hanging scrolls, are 8 panels of superimposed images that combine balanced stones with other scenes, such as control operators in the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japanese news graphics, and families on the beach. "Bean Head Buddha," is a remarkable super-imposure incorporating a statuesque buddha with organically grown beans from the Cedros Avenue Farmers Market. The image of peace, serenity and balance of the internal kind, connected with heathy food, points out the importance of protecting our safe food supply, and achieving food security, in light of radioactive releases.

"The air we breathe, the ocean we swim and surf in, the food we eat, the water we drink, and the connections we feel with one another, are the most precious of gifts and the things we can never allow to be compromised," Lundahl says with passion. The scrolls and photographs incorporate inscriptions from the Heart Sutra, one of the principal tenets of Buddhism. In fact the very word Sutra, itself, is from the Sanskrit language and means tied or knitted together.

In addition to Lundahl's photos, there will be performances, including music from internationally renowned violinist Alicia Previn, a poetry reading by poet, author and College of the Desert professor, Ruth Nolan, reading her new poem, "Memory" about the events in Japan, "Hummingbird," and "Razor Burn," from Indian Canyon Haiku Series. Deep Deoja will offer a healing using singing bowls from Nepal and discuss his project building schools there. Robert Lundahl will screen a brief clip from his new film, "Who Are My People."

The show concept is extended with images from a proposed marketing campaign called "Return on Community™," which Lundahl and team (Circulate Marketing™) have proposed for the re-branding of the City of Encinitas, DEMA (The Downtown Encinitas Main Street Association), and other local merchant groups. The large images, which hang by clothespins from the lighting tracks like photos in a darkroom, promote sustainability in business, products and design, from the creative entrepreneurship of local residents.

Among them is Jake Moss, who makes sustainable surfboards from 100% waste stream EPS packaging foam, and resin derived from pine sap. His efforts in creating organic food producing gardens in the local area are another example of Jake's commitment to a healthier environment, reducing toxic run-off to beaches.

The black and white portraits are dramatic and contemporary, giving sustainability a hip and sophisticated "Vanity Fair Magazine" treatment. Local fashion design is included with models including Haleh and Samantha Peel, stunningly wearing locally designed and manufactured jewelry and clothing in their best light.