ATOMIC COWBOY / TAKE IT HOME exhibition response - Jayson Paulino

Part 1: Curatorial Activism defined

    In the two exhibitions, Atomic Cowboy, and Take IT Home, there was a shared theme of weapons of mass destruction and how they affected many lives and not just those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most people only think about the bombs that dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as its the thing that is mostly talked about in history classes, however this exhibit goes into that and much more going into even how tests of the nuclear bomb affected others even in the U.S. itself and this is shown in the works of what was displayed in the NJCU art exhibit. In the Atomic Cowboy exhibit the piece called Cowboy's Dream by Nobuho Nagasawa stood out the most to me because when I first laid eyes on it I just saw various pictures of several famous people. After going through the entire tour I learned that all those people celebrities American celebrities lost their lives because of the tests of the nuclear bomb, not the bomb being weaponized against them just the mere aftermath of the tests affecting their health to the point it was fatal something that ISN'T talked about in schools. Atomic Cowboy showed that the atomic bomb affected more lives then then some might have initially thought. The other half of the exhibition was called Take It Home For (__) Shall Not Repeat The Error. This half contained multiple different pieces from different artists like Nihon Hidankyo, Souya Handa, Kei Ito, and Sixte Kakinda. Each one had an amazing piece all unique from the other but the one that stood out the most to me was the video of Sixte Kakinda. The video consisted of Sixte Kakinda traveling around hiroshima counting the number of global nuclear tests while and spreading medicine on the floor. I like this one particularly because its very symbolic and some parts are up to interpretation. These different pieces can very much so be seen as activism each piece was made to spread awareness on how the world not just Japan was affected by the nuclear bombs. Most of the pieces depicts how the tests happened in multiple different places affecting all types of people from everyday citizens to celebrities.

    Kimberly Drew in her book This Is What I know About Art says "Art and protest will forever be bound together. And the beautiful thing about art, like activism, is that it allows us space to be curious and learn. Sharing art has helped me learn how to make my voice heard and ask better questions." (Drew Page. 8) and I feel like this quote sums up the exhibitions nicely it took a very known topic like the weapons of mass destruction and took things that most might not know about it, the number of tests that happened that those who were affected by the tests, it taught me more and made me question more about the atomic bomb and just how many lives were affected beyond Japan and how much damage was actually caused. Kimberly Drew also state in her book "The truth is: We all have the power to engage with and write about art." (Drew Page. 6) basically saying anyone can understand art even if they don't see themselves as artistic or an activist. Which leads into my next point authors, curators, historians can all be seen as activists. A Curator choses which art is displayed and which story is told and which voice is amplified, Authors as well telling stories that resonate with others, and even Historians all using their platforms to share stories and spread the word.

Part 2

 This is a image of one of the artworks displayed in the gallery the image is actually of a video of Sixte Kakinda and the work is called "Intimate Moments/Monologue" the maker of this artwork depicting him walking around Hiroshima leaving behind medicine on the ground and in other areas counting the amount of atomic bomb tests that happened around the world, and this can be seen as activism because it shows people the number of tests that happened, while symbolically spreading medicine on the ground which can represent a whole number of things for example maybe it represents the number of tests. This was made to reveal the link between Congo and Hiroshima.

This is a image of Nobuho Nagasawa's "Cowboy's Dream". It depicts a wall of pictures of famous actors and producers that died due to being exposed to nuclear tests, the cause of their deaths, and the films they were in. This work is also very activist because it brings awareness to that even the tests took lives times where the atomic bomb wasn't directed at anyone but still took lives due to its after math. It makes people think about how dangerous these weapons really are beyond the initial blast.