On September 8 – 2019, I had the big pleasure to perform with The Groningen Vocal Exploration Choir under the direction of Chris Tonelli during the exhibition as part of the cultural week in Galerie Block C: “After Hiroshima: Cultural Responses to the Atomic Bomb”.
Questions like how artists respond to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their aftermath, and how artists relate to nuclear issues today became answered especially by American artist, activist, curator, critic and professor Elin o'Hara Slavick and her work, lectures and presentations presented through Galerie Block C in Groningen, The Netherlands.
The most horrific bombing on Japan did end the second World War, and started a nuclear race between the US and the Soviet Union, which led to 2.000 nuclear tests all over the world. Nuclear weapons as well as nuclear energy systems still leads to massive protests and unanswered questions related to the mostly horrible after effects of their use. The massive power of nuclear force is just not controllable and leads to major dangerous impacts on this planet for all lives for an almost infinite long lasting time.
“After Hiroshima” is the title of a book from Elin o'Hara Slavick.
"The photographic images of Hiroshima, Japan, in this photo essay are attempts to visually, poetically, and historically address the magnitude of what disappeared, and what remains, after the dropping of the A-bomb in 1945. They are images of loss and survival, fragments and lives, architecture and skin, surfaces and invisible things, like radiation. Exposure is at the core of Slavik's project: exposure to and exposures made from radiation, to the sun, to light, to history, and exposures made from radiation, the sun, light, and history, including historical artifacts from the Peace Memorial Museum’s collection. After Hiroshima engages ethical seeing, visually registers warfare, and addresses the irreconcilable paradox of making barbarism visible as witness, artist, and as viewer."
Another book she published is called “Bomb after Bomb: A Violent Cartography”. Hiroshima and our post nuclear world are themes Elin o'Hara Slavick works with, next to exported violence world wide, travel/tourist photography, how the media (mis) represents the world, the global economy and how art can transform society through her art projects, teaching and activism.
I had the huge honor and pleasure to talk with Elin o'Hara Slavick on wednesday September 11 - 2019 at my livingroom in Groningen, The Netherlands. Please enjoy our talk! Many thanks to Elin o'Hara Slavick, to Galerie Block C in Groningen and to Ruby de Vos!
Cover picture: After Hiroshima, by Elin o'Hara Slavick. Cover of her book published by Daylight Community Arts Foundation (2013).