“When I sit to write my recollections of that time, I have to brace myself to confront my memories of Hiroshima. It is exceedingly painful to do this because I become overwhelmed by my memories of grotesque and massive destruction and death.”
-Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor
On January 22nd the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will be enacted as international law. I began photographing Mrs. Thurlow in 2011. From the moment we met her determination to fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons was evident. She was 13 years old when the atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Mrs. Thurlow was a prominent advocate of the treaty that will ban nuclear weapons. She has waited almost all her life for this moment.
Everyday I think about the survivors I met in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Most have passed but their memory lives on when the treaty banning nuclear weapons arrives.
Tags: From Above, Hibakusha, Hiroshima, Setsuko Thurlow