In this age of internet and social media networks, words can “fly” thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. After the natural disaster in Fukushima, Japan in early 2011, words and thoughts of encouragement and prayers flooded through Facebook, Twitter, and email to the survivors. This instant and amazing response from well-wishers to the crisis victims has been immortalized in a 3-dimensional typographic poster called “Words Can Fly a Thousand Miles”. This paper representation of the outpouring of support for those effected by the disaster was designed and created by Kyosuke Nishida, Brian Li Sui Fong, and Dominic Liu and photographed by Simon Duhamel. Employing the long-established Japanese custom, Senbazuri (a thousand origami cranes), in their paper sculpture, artists and designers, Nishida, Li Sui Fong, and Liu, used their unique skills to create perfectly formed origami cranes to attach to the words of the poster.Traditionally, a thousand paper origami cranes are given as a special gift for wishes of recovery from illnesses or injury because it is believed that the folding of a 1000 paper cranes makes wishes come true. Remarkably, the birds appear to be erupting right out of the poster! It is an exquisite and breathtaking work of art.
See more about the project on Facebook. To send your own message of well-being and/or donations to the survivors of the disaster go to wordscanfly.org
