John Rodsted, Adjunct Professor, Queensland College of Art, photographer, author and film maker spoke to us after his recent visit to the United Nations in Geneva where he had just launched his book In Search of Safe Ground in the Pacific. His book is a study of left over munitions throughout the Pacific from World War 2 and how they impact today’s Pacific societies. The research has been conducted through mountains, jungles and oceans in the Solomon Islands and Palau and covers civil safety, instability due to munitions, impact on civil unrest, commercial use for explosive fishing, retarded commercial development and lack of international interest and engagement.

John shared his message on how he is focusing on engaging international governments and donors and bring focus and budgets to the Pacific for the clearance of these explosive remnants of war and oil removal from ship wrecks.  A finite problem that can be solved.  You can help John in his campaign to rid the Pacific of WW2 explosives and boost the conversation in the Solomon Islands by donating to the SafeGround crowdfunding campaign.

Watch the #PerspectivesAsia seminar online

Perspectives:Asia is presented by the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University and the Australian Centre of Asia-Pacific Art (ACAPA) at QAGOMA. Previous Perspectives:Asia seminars are also available online.

Images:Joe Ruckli