I woke up on Friday morning as we all did to the horrible news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As my heart broke seeing the initial video feeds of the incredible damage,I gasped when I heard that the epicenter was very close to the area where my brother Roberto, his wife Keiko and infant daughter Dali (named after Salvador) lived, in the village of Omagari in Miyagi. A day of frantic emailing,Facebook posts and tweets resulted in hearing from them some 24 hours later. Shaken up by the initial quake and numerous aftershocks, they are ok nonetheless, having averted much of the damage living some distance from the coastline where much of the area was just washed away. Keiko has still not been able to contact her family after 3 days, but are hopeful that they are still alive and well.

Thankful that they are in good shape for now, my thoughts turned to how I could reach out to help. I came across the efforts of Crista Nix of the Wall-Space Gallery in Santa Barbara,Ca who along with Fine Arts photographer Aline Smithson wanted to do something that involved fellow members of the creative community with a similar desire to reach out. Out of that desire, Life-Support Japan was born, with over 700 artists donating limited edition prints to be sold online. The proceeds of the sale will go to Habitat for Humanity,Japan for the rebuilding of communities in northern Japan & Direct relief International, which will assist in medical supplies.

The price of individual images are just $50, and in just 48 hours, they have already raised over $10,000. The list of creative artists is staggering and the images are amazing. I have donated an image of mine, called “Shrine” that was shown in multimedia shows at Look 3 & the Musee D’Lysee. It shows a makeshift shrine my parents made of images of my grandfather & uncle in their apartment in NYC.