ATOMIC COWBOY- Leilani Greywolf

 

Nobuho Nagasawa, Little Boy 1992

This is one of the works by Nobuho Nagasawa that stood out to me the most because it seems comical yet serious mixed in together. Its hand printed silkscreen on led, and is framed above a plate with the date, name and KT the bomb had. This is the birth certificate for the bomb Little Boy. As you can see, the birth certificate has all the information. When it was born, the place it was born in, even going as far as to name the family members and putting its “hand print” on the bottom right. 

As funny and cute as it may seem, this is sadly something that really happened. This is the bomb that fell upon the people of Hiroshima. People may not understand the comical side of this art piece. Some may. People cope with jokes, this could be a form of it. That’s what I believe, because “smiling and happiness can be good medicine.” Maybe not to everything of course, but because this is something that happened so long ago, there's not much we can do but to remember the event that sadly happened. I believe that this event was equally affecting both sides of the war. Japan and the USA. It affected innocent people who were probably unaware until Japan struck Pearl Harbor. Many people on both sides also tried to make light of the situation despite there being war. 

Nagasawa’s piece “How to survive a Nuclear war” represents that. 

I believe it was made on silkscreen too, and is seen through which I believe makes it stand out more. The women are all dolled up, placing food on the counter to make dinner perhaps. This could also be what men want to come home to after the war. A pretty woman making food. But in reality we can see through it all, there's no pretending, no making the situation better. No matter how much people tried, it wasn't working. 

Nobuho Nagasawa, How to survive a Nuclear War 92

On the bottom, it’s stated that canned food that hasn’t been opened is safer to eat after an atomic bomb and food in a closed fridge too. It is like there is some false hope there that someone could cling onto and not just some fun survival fact there. 

Even the picture shows foods that were able to be eaten safely, and not just food being placed out. The canned food, the bread and the milk. 

To some people this may seem like some. Pretty lady making dinner. I see it as turning a blind eye to war, making things better when in reality things aren’t going well and it is easily seen. I believe these art works are amazing and are portrayed very well. Comical and serious. These themes for art isn’t for everyone. In fact it is still hard for people to get over this event because Japan only sent one bomb, while the USA sent one to Hiroshima and one to Nagasaki. 

I once watched a documentary that was so powerful that the shockwave burned people. There is some art and pictures of a bunch of people jumping into a river trying to cool themselves from the intense heat they were suffering. so this isn't something that can be easily forgotten in hasty.