Burning Away/Nuclear Cuisine

Part 1-

What are the main themes of the exhibition? 

- The main theme of the exhibition was anti war, anti nuclear testing, and awareness. Each piece had a story attached to it via nuclear testing or war. Some listed out every single nuclear test that ever occured, some featured dates, others featured the victims of nuclear fallout, the items used to mend wounds from the nuclear blast, and more.

Do you think the themes and messages of the work qualify as activist? 

- I think they do because they all feature stories revolving around nuclear testing and war. They are the results, the memories, and the consequences of war and nuclear testing. Activism is about spreading awareness, being active in your community, and keeping people woke and aware of the world around them.

How might the curator be seen as activist? 

- I believe that the curator can be seen as an activist because what they did wa sbring awareness to a cause that people often brush off as something that happened a long time ago when this was extremely recent. It brings awareness to important events and educates people on history.

How do these readings connect to the themes and issues in the exhibition(s) you visited? 

- The readings tie into the strong urge to record and show people history. In the readings and the exhibition, all authors/curators talk about their needs to create art to tell history and educate the masses on subjects people don't often talk about whether it be for racist reasons or shame/embarrassment. 

How can authors, historians and curators also be activist?

- I think that a majority of these people are considered activists because they bring attention to things whether it be political issues, art, culture, or other reasons. By educating the public on whatever issue they bring up, they are doing activist work because they are bringing attention to a cause.

Part 2- The two pieces of the exhibition that stood out to me the most were Burning Away and Atomic Cowboy: The Daze After. Burning Away was a painting of a crudely drawn body made with various substances like motor oil, mud, and honey. These substances were used during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to close and treat wounds as that was all the materials they had. It is a silver gelatin chemigram that is 100 x 41 x 1 inches. This piece hit me the hardest because it showed just how little the survivors had to work with in the aftermate. The desperation, hardships and determination of the survivors astounds me and I hope it does for anyone else that views this piece. This piece was created by Kei Ito.

This next piece was called Nuclear Cuisine. It was a massive tower of cans parodying Campbells soup cans with cans painted with mushroom clouds on them. This is one of the many cans depicted in the tower. It was created by Nobuho Nagasawa. Each of the cans represented each *announced* nuclear test from 1945 to 1992. The titles are noted to be titled "Camphells"

Both of these pieces are examples of activism because they tell stories of devastating events. They're supposed to send you a message about the state of the world, your country, your leaders, your history and more.