Today is the 4th anniversary of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). On January 22nd (TPNW) it was enacted as international law. Before this treaty nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not banned by international law.
Mrs. Setsuko Thurlow fought her entire life to see this treaty become reality. 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.
“When I sit down to write down 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
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. Thurlow’s portrait is part of my project, From Above, which is a collection portraits and reminiscences of atomic bomb survivors and fire bombing survivors from the Second World War. It will be exhibited at Gallery ef in Tokyo on September 1st-12th.
“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.
..July 2019.. ..Hiroshima..
I’m honored to have my photograph of Setsuko Thurlow on the cover of her autobiography.
Mrs. Thurlow is an hibakusha, atomic bomb survivor, from Hiroshima.
She rececently had the honor of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize when it was awarded to ICAN for their work on the nuclear weapons ban. Mrs. Thurlow has dedicated her life to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
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.
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.
