The exhibit.
Portraits of the Hibakusha | 80 Years Remembered is a series of 52 Lenticular portraits of the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A collection with great historical significance, we hope to facilitate discussion for the legacies of nuclear bombing, testing, and the urgency of nuclear disarmament.
There are now very few of the hibakusha left alive, and time is running out for them. This exhibition aims to document their memories and messages to the future, bringing visitors face to face with their earnest messages. Their three-dimensional images and their stories will say much more than words alone.
These holographic portraits are documents of national and global significance, and ensure that the hibakusha are memorialised as an archive of experiences that can be exhibited worldwide for future generations.
The "hibakusha" are the surviving victims of the atomic bombs which fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Reviews
"This exhibit astounded me. As someone who spent almost five years in Japan in the 1980’s I was very familiar with the Hibakusha and the impact of the nuclear war on the country. The beautiful presentation of the Hibakusha and their words was a collective wake-up call to remind us of the horrors of war and the devastating power of nuclear weapons. This show needs to be seen by as many people as possible around the world"
— Visitor from Berlin, Germany
"[the exhibition] had a profound effect on us including my friend's 14-year-old daughter who is now interested in doing a special project about the impact and effects of the A-bomb on the survivors. I think you have created a very moving and powerful testament and I hope the exhibition can tour both in Japan and further afield."
— Visitor from Manchester, UK
“A powerful and moving indictment of the long-term impact of nuclear weapons. This is a haunting quality in all the messages. You know these people who lived through an experience so powerful and painful it has shaped their lives. The exhibition was incredibly powerful and moving.”
— Visitor from London, UK
“I am a primary school teacher. I sometimes give anti-war lessons, but I think there are still things I haven't conveyed yet. I am now researching how to pass on this information. I would like to see this exhibition lent out to various schools or made into a book for children to browse.”
— Visitor from Osaka, Japan
“Since I was in primary school, I have received education about the atomic bombing, listened to stories told by storytellers, visited Hiroshima and was shocked by the exhibition at the memorial, and these memories have remained with me, but this exhibition made me realise that there are still things I did not know and the horror of nuclear weapons that I had not fully felt. […] I have decided once again to be one of those people who will take up that voice and continue to take steady action from where I am now.”
— Visitor from Tokyo, Japan
Presented by Gina Langton
Founder of 80,000 Voices & Activist
Gina Langton is an anti-nuclear activist, and founder of 80,000 Voices, which is an art, music, culture, and peace organization. As a partner of ICAN. 80,000 Voices was a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
She visited Hiroshima for the first time 2013 when studied at a Hiroshima Peace Studies course for graduates at Hiroshima City University, which changed her life. Since then, she has returned on several occasions to meet with the survivors of the atomic bombings in 1945 in an effort to help bring more awareness to their stories of the horrors of what happened, so that this never happens again.
Photographed by Patrick Boyd
Award winning photographer and Holography Artist
Multi-award winning Patrick Boyd, who speaks basic Japanese has been working with lasers, optics, and emulsions since 1985.
Working with pulsed lasers at the Royal College of Art and with multiplex lenticular holography systems at Loughborough University under Dr Nick Philllips, he made some of the most famous pulsed laser holography portraits in the world.
