Almost all the temporary public housing units in the disaster-hit Tohoku region of northeast Japan look the same — like little, soulless boxes, in fact.
But soon after graffiti artist Hamilton Yokota went to stay and work at an evacuees' community in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, the housing there began to be transformed with colorful images — and the residents' spirits were visibly lifted as they watched their enforced living spaces take on an individual appearance that spread a new warmth despite winter's chill.
Yokota, who goes by the handle "Titi Freak," is a Japanese-Brazilian whose favored medium is spray paint. In December, during nine days he spent in the Kasetsu Kaisei Danchi (Kaisei Temporary Housing Complex) community, he created 15 works on the end walls of housing-unit terraces that are presently home to some 200 households.