Here is a link to a gallery of some powerful and evocative artistic pieces created by Japanese following the WWII bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The art above is of a depiction of when the artist came across an intact skeleton still sitting in a tilted barber's chair. Haunting stuff, for sure. Powerful works come from powerful feelings. I was wondering which is your favorite (or piece you connect to the most) and why? I chose this image because of the intriguing way such a catastrophic event can cause normal life to halt instantaneously. A real tragedy.
You're right, these are really powerful. It was a hard choice but I was most moved by the fourth painting: "Downtown Hiroshima In Ruins, as seen two weeks later", in large part due to the fact that the painter was four years old when she/he saw the scene she/he later painted. It speaks to just how unknown the power of the bomb was at the time. I would guess that basically everyone in all first world nations would tell you it is a terrible idea to go anywhere near the site of nuclear bomb explosion. Even if one knows nothing about how that bomb actually works or the science of radioactivity, we all culturally know it's a bad idea. So the fact that someone brought a four year old into the blast zone just two weeks later speaks to the fact that the bomb had no previous context. It was a completely new form of destruction. It is also incredible that after witnessing this new form of destruction, some would have the courage to go where it happened with no knowledge of what might happen there.
ReplyDeleteWow these are all very haunting. The painting, “Hiroshima in flames on the afternoon of August 6. The writing on the painting speaks of encountering ‘living Hell in this world.’” By Nakano Kenichi, 47 years old in August 1945, really jumped out to me. It his me in particular because the people in the painting are naked which to me represents how vulnerable and helpless they were to the bomb being dropped on them. It is like they had no say in the matter and without clothing they lose some of their dignity and honor. In the same manner in which they were treated by being innocently blasted.
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