Yesterday the Asahi newspaper in Nagasaki included my opinion about the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) which was enacted as international law on January 22nd. A big thank you to Mizuki Enomoto for asking me to contribute to her article.
I began photographing atomic bomb survivors (hibakusha) in 2008 and will continue to do so until the last voice goes silent. In 2011 these portraits were published as a book, From Above. Everyday I think about the people I met in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Most have passed but their memory lives on when the treaty banning nuclear weapons arrives.
“Man developed nuclear weapons. We have to question the human heart. People can decide to abandon them. I believe we can abolish nuclear weapons.”
-Miyoko Matsubara, Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor
On
January 22nd the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will be enacted
as international law. I began photographing atomic bomb survivors
(hibakusha) in 2008 and will continue to do so until the last voice goes
silent.
In 2011 these portraits were published as a book, From
Above. 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.
Mrs. Matsubara was 12 years old
when the atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Her story details the hard
life during and after the war and the passion she derived from living
through those years. The atomic bomb left her severely burned with
keloid scars covering most of the body. She experienced discrimination
because of her appearance. In 1953 she was selected to be part of the
Hiroshima Maidens program which made it possible for her to have
corrective and cosmetic surgeries.
After Mrs. Matsubara dedicated
her life to peace activism and helping other victims of war cope with
the aftermath. She raised her elder brother’s three young children when
he and his wife passed away. My memories of the afternoon I spent
with Mrs. Matsubara will be that she was always affable. Her spirit
instantly brightened the room. She had suffered a stroke a couple of
years prior but made it a priority to practice speaking English in the
mirror so she didn’t lose her motor skills. She spoke to me in perfect
English.
That afternoon was my only time with Mrs. Matsubara. I
still remember all the details vividly because she left a permanent
impression. She always had this glow about her. I feel lucky to have the
opportunity to call her my friend.
“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.
“Every portrait has a silent voice.” -Itaru Takahara
写真とは、 声なき声。 高原至
I received the sad news that Mr. Itaru Takahara passed away on August
5th. He was 97 years old. Takahara-san survived the atomic bombing of
Nagasaki and the firebombing of Tokyo five months prior.
I
photographed Takahara-san in July 2010 when my hibakusha (atomic bomb
survivor) portraits were exhibited in Nagasaki. Takahara-san was a
famous photographer who published a book documenting the ruins of the
Urakami Cathedral. The atomic bomb detonated over Urakami which was home
to the largest cathedral in eastern Asia. The cathedral was smashed
and half of it’s steeple was tossed down a hill. Takahara-san spent
years after the war documenting children playing and services being held
in it’s ruins.
When I first met Takahara-san he asked me where
my book was. I laughed and told him that no publisher was willing to
print a book of my hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) and firebombing
survivor portraits. I jokingly told him if I ever got a book offer he
would have to write the introduction. A week later I was interviewed by
ZERO NEWS, a national television show in Japan. The next day I was
offered a book deal in Japan. Takahara-san wrote the introduction to my
book, FROM ABOVE, that still inspires me to live every moment with a
burning passion.
Takahara-san was a brilliant photographer but
was an even better person. He had an infectious laugh, a zeal for life
and the same weakness for chocolate cakes that I have. He paid
attention to every minute detail of a photograph and saw beauty in
silence. He reinforced that the importance of a photograph came from
the emotion it resonated! The feelings are all that matters.
I will miss Takahara-san but the years I knew him left a permanent smile in my soul. You’ll always be my friend.
“I used to believe the war was my parents war- that it was not part of my life. They lost 40 friends to starvation and execution. At the end of the 1980’s, I realized the war was a part of my life. Once I went to therapy the memories came back. Now I accept war is a part of my own history.” -Dik de Boef
Dik de Boef was four years old on February 22, 1944 when the Allies bombed the Dutch cities of Arnhem, Nijmegen and Enschede. Two bombs fell on his family’s home.
“My
mother called my name. I was unconscious but after a couple of hours I
said “Yes, I’m here.” I was playing near a wall.
The two bombs created a vacuum- the wall and the roof collapsed on top of
me. It took hours to rescue me because only a small part of me was visible.
The first image I had was one of the rescuers hands covered in blood and the
mattress that they laid me down and brought me to the hospital on.”
The beginning of Dik’s life was dominated by the harsh reality of World War Two. He experienced several aerial bombings, the German occupation of Netherlands and the difficult period of time rebuilding after the war. He is photographed holding a piece of clothing he was wearing when he was
pulled out of the debris in Arnhem.
..April 2020.. ..Nagasaki.. I received sad news that Mr. Tsukasa Uchida passed away on April 6th 2020. He was 90 years old and had been in the hospital for months.
Mr. Uchida experienced the atomic bombing of Nagasaki when he was 15 years old. He was rescued from underneath rubble at the Ohashi Plant of the Mitsubishi Arms Factory about a mile north of the hypocenter. Using a broken stick as a cane he struggled to get away from the burning factory and found refugee on a mountain.
When I photographed Mr. Uchida in 2016 he was in fragile condition but had a sharp mind. He spoke about his experiences in exact detail for two hours.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to have met such a brave person. Mr. Uchida has taught many people about the horrors of nuclear weapons. His passing is a great loss to humanity.
“I was heading to the rescue train using a wood stick. There were rice fields on the way, I found something in there. On first sight, I thought they were pumpkins, but they were human heads.” -Tsukasa Uchida
“I survived by the grace of the deceased. But to stop history from repeating itself I have to speak.” -Haruyo Nihei, Tokyo firebomb survivor
Mrs. Haruyo Nihei experienced the firebombing of Tokyo on the night of March 10th, 1945. Bombers carpeted Tokyo with spread incendiary bombs for hours and after the bombing ceased, the city was wrapped in flames. Almost everything burnt in the city.
“The fire died down because there was nothing left to be burnt. I remember walking the site of fire, by stepping over charred bodies”
When the bombing started she began to escape with her family, but the flames cornered her and she was separated from them. The streets were full of panic. She fell down and fainted. People then piled on top of her. She, and others near the bottom of the pile, survived because the people near the top bore the brunt of the inferno.
On February 13th, 1945 the baroque city of Dresden, Germany was firebombed into cinder by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force. The attack was divided into three bombing raids dropping over 4,500 tons of high explosives, including incendiary bombs, onto the city known as “Florence on the Elbe.”
Gunther Kannegießer was never able to recover the bodies of his mother, brother and sister after the bombing of Dresden. For many years he searched lists of mass burial sites for their bodies.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and Reunification more information became available about the location of mass graves and who was in them. Spending the majority of his life looking for the location of the bodies, he found their names on a document for a mass grave at the Johannisfriedhof Cemetery.
In the back of the cemetery, three stones waist high are erected at the mass grave without any markings or a list of names. After Reunification a small monument was sculpted stating, “Here lays 3,660 civilians who died on February 13th, 1945.” The majority of the bodies in this mass grave were from Dresden Johannstadt, where Mr Kannegießer’s family lived.
This
portrait is a part of my From Above project which featured portraits of
atomic bomb and firebombing survivors from WWII. My limited edition
book is available at
https://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?catalog=I1040&i=&i2=
A
selection of From Above portraits taken in Dresden and also including
portraits of firebombing survivors from Coventry and Rotterdam, will be
exhibited in the Dresden Neustadt during May. More information will be
released closer to the opening.
