hiroshima exhibit @ MOA
to February 12, 2012

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hiroshima is a powerful exhibition on display at UBC’s Museum of Anthroplogy through Sunday, February 12, 2012

Featuring 48 photographs by Ishiuchi Miyako of clothing and accessories left behind by victims of the 1945 atomic bomb at Hiroshima, what is striking about the exhibition is the intimacy of the everyday objects captured by Ishiuchi’s camera. While we are familiar with the black and white photographs that show the devastation left behind by the bomb on that fateful day, these photographs, with their muted colours and focus on details, affect the viewer on a much different level. The stark simplicity of the photographs, coupled with the viewer’s knowledge of their provenance provides a new insight into horrific power of the bomb that has come to represent humankind’s capacity for mass destruction.
As Ishiuchi writes: “From the 19,000 items made available to me [at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum], I chose things that at one time had touched skin and bodies, and photographed them…. A flower-patterned dress colourfully dyed. A puff of gathered, shiny skirt woven of silk thread. Cool-looking, thin, georgette materials that once shed the summer heat. Used kimonos transformed into blouses and cut to make air-raid hoods…. These objects, exposed to the heat and radioactive rays of a fire ball that suddenly appeared one summer morning, and relinquished by the victims of the atomic bombing, have been on earth as long as I have. When I came to realize the coincidence, I caught my breath at their vivid hues and distinct textures, their flaws and complicated detail. These are too deeply linked to daily lives to regard as ‘historical materials.’”
Ishiuchi, born in 1947 in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, is one of Japan’s leading contemporary photographers. Her work focuses on the representation of the human body, and her subjects are often directly related to her personal history.

In conjunction with the exhibit at the Museum of Anthropology, a series of related events are running at the Museum and other venues at UBC and around Greater Vancouver. The following are several highlights. For a full schedule, ticket information, and to find out more information about the exhibit, visit www.moa.ubc.ca/events

Voices of Hiroshima: Words of the Victims,
the Witnesses, and the Creators
January 25, 26, and 27, 10:30 am-12:00 pm,
Michael M. Ames Theatre (ticketed)
A concert for school groups combining original and traditional Japanese music with text from personal accounts of individuals affected by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: victims, witnesses, survivors, those who dropped the bombs, and those who created it. This new work features Colleen Lanki (director and performer), Eien Hunter-Ishikawa (taiko and percussion), and Alcvin Ryûzen Ramos (shakuhachi).
Living with Hiroshima: My Memories of 66 Years:
An Evening with Koko Tanimoto Kondo
Sunday, January 29, 6:30pm, Unitarian Church,
949 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver (by donation)
Koko Kondo, activist and educator from Hiroshima, speaks about the effects of the bomb on her life, and her ongoing work for peace. Event includes a performance of Maurice Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ by mime artist Yayoi Hirano, with Sara Beuchner and Chihiro Honma at the piano. Presented by the Unitarian
Church and Centre of Vancouver Adult Education Programme; co-sponsored by Peace Philosophy Centre, Vancouver Save Article 9, and MOA.
One Thousand Cranes
Presented in Japanese by Bunkaza Theatre Company (Tokyo), with accompanying English storytelling
Friday, February 10 (7:30 pm) and Saturday, February 11 (2:00 pm and 7:30 pm), Frederic Wood Theatre, 6354 Crescent Road, UBC (ticketed)
UBC Theatre alumnus Colin Thomas’ award-winning play traces the stories of two twelve-year-olds: Sadako, the girl whose death by radiation-induced
leukemia is commemorated in Hiroshima’s monument of one thousand cranes, and Buddy, a Canadian boy whose life is being taken over by his fears of nuclear war.

A catalogue featuring images from the exhibit and essays in English and Japanese is available for purchase in the MOA Shop. Also available is a monograph edited by MOA curator Karen Duffek, featuring Ishiuchi Miyako in conversation with Professor John O’Brian, UBC Art History, Visual Art & Theory Department. Exhibition sponsored in part by Shiseido and the Japan Foundation. Media sponsor The Georgia Straight.

A note about the exhibition title:

The kanji in the poster means Hiroshima, written in Japanese hiragana characters. Hiragana is one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana. These characters were extensively used by women in former times; for Ishiuchi, using this style for the title emphasizes that this series is made from the point of view and feelings of a woman. It is the artist’s wish that that the hiragana appears before the word ‘hiroshima’ as part of MOA’s exhibition title, and that the ‘h’ in Hiroshima not be capitalized.

Photo Credit:(detail) Ishiuchi Miyako ????/hiroshima #9, Dress, 2007/2008, Type C Print, 108x74cm, T.Fujisawa