Lionel Delevingne
Showcasing Delevigne’s 40 years of photojournalism related to nuclear power and its effects, “To the Village Square” is available online at www.tothevillagesquare.net
By Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
Renowned French photojournalist Lionel Delevingne is no stranger to civil disobedience. He witnessed firsthand the Paris Strike in 1968, and the May Day protests of the Vietnam War in Washington D. C. in 1971.
His marriage to an American and subsequent move to Montague, Massachusetts, in the early 1970s put him center stage of the growing anti-nuclear movement in the U.S., as his adopted hometown became a battleground over the construction of one of the country’s early nuclear power plants.
Earlier this year Delevingne compiled decades of his nuclear-related images into a book “To the Village Square: From Montague to Fukushima 1975-2014.”
PRIME was privileged to chat with him about his new book:
Q: What motivated you to publish “To The Village Square?”
I was born in Paris and became interested in the environmental movement in France. I moved to the US in the early seventies. My reportage on the movement here began in 1975 when I documented protests in Montague, Massachusetts, where a nuclear power plant was planned. Through the efforts of local citizens and other sympathizers, that plan was defeated.
That victory was my introduction to the power of democratic action to make a difference and achieve real results.
I have documented the anti-nuclear movement for almost 40 years, starting in Montague and extending to Chernobyl in Ukraine, which at the time of the accident was under the jurisdiction of the Soviet Union, and Fukushima, Japan.
My goal in publishing this book is two fold: First, to celebrate democracy through the depiction of the brave protesters who made a difference and successfully stopped the construction of new nuclear power plants in this country for 30 years; and secondly, to expose the victims of nuclear accidents so that their hardship is not hidden by their anonymity.
There is an urgent need – much discussed – to address safe energy alternatives. But photographs speak a different, more immediate language. I want my book to shout.
Q: What do you hope readers will take away from your work?
Through “To the Village Square,” I want readers to understand that we are all vulnerable. When I arrived in Japan in April 2013, I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I interviewed people in the affected area, what struck me most were the similarities between their lives and mine. One day your radio beeps and you must exit your home, run to your car, and crisscross highways looking for escape, for safety. You have lost your job, your health, maybe even your children. And you can never return to your home. For the victims of Fukushima, even in their relocation exile, their children wear dosimeters (which measure radiation exposure) to school, conveniently attached to their bookbags.
My experiences made me see that I, too, was vulnerable, that one day my own home could be so desecrated that I might not be able to retrieve a photo of my parents because it was so contaminated. The Berkshires, where I live, could be Chernobyl, or Fukushima. That threat can never leave you. My encounters in Japan left me with an extreme sense of compassion – and personal vulnerability.
Q: What impact would you like to see this book have on readers? On society?
I want readers to understand that the consequences of nuclear accidents are life-changing, permanent, and far-reaching. In affected areas, the damage encompasses health, economics, and the environment. But the damage doesn’t stop there – it spreads, threatening farming, fishing, and air quality far away from the nuclear site.
I want to alert the younger generation to the dangers of nuclear power, reinforce the urgency to find new forms of clean and safe energy, and inspire them to take action when action is necessary for the common good. “To the Village Square” is my contribution towards the goal of safe energy.
For more information on “To the Village Square: From Montague to Fukushima 1975-2014,” including book availability, please visit www.tothevillagesquare.net.
