The Shadows of Hiroshima (2021)

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The "Shadows of Hiroshima" is composed of four long exposures on black and white film each accompanied by a concurrent ambient sound recording matching the duration of the exposure.  The scene was captured in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in December Twenty Nineteen.  

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The work is inspired by the horror of the "Human Shadow Etched in Stone" which recorded, through a blast mark, the last moments of a local - sitting on the step of a bank building - when the atomic bomb detonated.

 

In contrast to the apocalyptic, bleak and ghost like images produced by the long exposures and monotone palette, the audio reveals a bustling and hopeful reality for Hiroshima.  The sounds of footfall, conversation and transport pervade through the ghastly visuals, and in the final scene, the ringing of the peace bell, by children, emblematizes the aspiration that the torment will not repeat for all our sakes.

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Selected to be published in The Mays Anthology of Literature and Art - Twenty Nine.