..May 2014.. ..New York..
Atomic bomb survivor and Hiroshima Maiden Shigeko Sasamori poses with a New York City high school student who sketched a portrait of her.
Shigeko survived was 13 years old when the atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima. She was so severely burned that she was unrecognizable. During 1955 she was brought to New York along with 25 other young girls for reconstructive surgery.
..May 2013.. ..New York to Nagasaki..
Last week I was given the opportunity to present one the few remaining copies of From Above to Mayor Taue of Nagasaki.
Mayor Taue was a former photography student of Takahara-san, a good friend and hibakusha who wrote the introduction in From Above.
I feel honored that Mayor Taue received the book and that the faces and stories of the atomic bomb survivors and fire bombing survivors in the book will continue to have a voice.
A couple remaining copies of From Above are for sale exclusively at this link.
http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?catalog=I1040
..May 20014.. ..New York..
Some of my From Above portraits of hibakusha, atomic bomb survivors, were exhibited at the United Nations this week to coincide with the NPT Conference.
From Above Photography Exhibition at the United Nations from Paule Saviano on Vimeo.
..April 2014.. ..Nagasaki..
This morning I received the sad news that Mr. Hiroshi Matsuzoe passed away at the age of 83 in Nagasaki. Mr. Matsuzoe was one the first hibakusha, atomic bomb survivor, I photographed and interviewed for From Above. He was 14 years old when the atomic bomb detonated over Nagasaki.
Mr. Matsuzoe dedicated his life to informing students about the importance of abolishing nuclear weapons. Last year he lost his voice to cancer but still spread his message when doctor’s restored his voice by installing an electronic device in his voice box.
I will always remember my brief time spent with Mr. Matsuzoe. In the hallway of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum he showed me paintings he had made of scenes from that horrific time. He had seen two young girls badly injured in the street, one later underwent surgery without anesthesia. Mr. Matsuzoe never forgot the screams coming from the little girl at that moment. A couple of days after, he witnessed their cremation while walking in the street. “It was two girls with light makeup and wearing a beautiful Kimono. They were about to be cremated. After someone put fire on them I couldn’t watch. I ran away.”
Many years later Mr. Matsuzoe painted that painful scene onto a canvas. He never knew the identity of either girl but when the painting was shown relatives and teachers of the two girls were found. One of the mother’s sobbed when she saw the painting.
The last time I saw Mr. Matsuzoe was at the From Above exhibition in the Nagasaki Peace Museum. You can see him in this documentary shot by Community Media. He appears 8 minutes into the program.
From Above By Paule Saviano from paul saviano on Vimeo.
The best tribute you can give to him is to never forget the lessons of Nagasaki and Hiroshima; and not to tolerate the excuse of war being a justifiable reason to settle differences.
..October 2013.. ..New York..
New York City students hold up a banner listing the names of all the former students at the Hiroshima Girls School who died during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945.
Atomic bomb survivor Setsuko Thurlow, a former student at the Hiroshima Girls School, brought the banner as a part of a school visit where she provided testimony of her experience.
