Paper Cranes for Japan
The following is submitted by Whitney Blaisdell , an Arts Education student at the University of Regina .
As a student , I ( Whitney Blaisdell ) found that I was just one of many young people impacted emotionally by the horrific events that began in Japan on March 11 , 2011 . Like many other students , I felt powerless because I was not able to make a significant financial donation to the relief efforts .
A few weeks prior to the catastrophic earthquakes in Japan , I had created an art installation in my 3D art course for instructor Barbara Meneley . For this project , I made 1,000 white paper cranes in honour of the real-life story , “ Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes .” This art installation was designed to explore issues of peace , strength , and hope — because Sadako was a young girl that exhibited all of these merits . She lived in Japan and had developed leukemia as a result of the atom bomb during World War II .
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In order to bring hope and luck to her life and health after her diagnosis , Sadako began to fold origami with the intent of making 1,000 paper cranes — a strong symbol of luck in her culture . Sadly , she was only able to finish 644 cranes before she passed away . Sadako ’ s story impacted many , and it was in tribute to her determination that I originally folded 1,000 paper cranes and prepared my first installation at the University or Regina .
After the March 11 th earthquake and tsunami , I began to consider whether these cranes could be used , in any capacity , for the relief efforts in Japan . After various deliberations , and through the support and consultation of Professor Barbara Meneley , I decided to create a second art installation with the cranes , this time with the intention of collecting donations for a Japan relief fund .
My goal was to set up a fundraiser that would attract a variety of people , including students and others that were not necessarily able to make large donations to a charity , and to encourage the notion that even a small contribution could make a big difference . I sought to create a display that was creative and aesthetically interesting , and because the pacontinued on page 7