Never Again: The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bomb Exhibition. Ms Yahata Teruko, 87-year-old hibakusha (survivor) on Artbeat.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first cities in human history to experience the atomic bombing. To coincide with this milestone, an exhibition kicks off from May 10, running through to June 21, called Never Again: The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bomb Exhibition.
The exhibition is being staged to present the facts of the atomic bombings and generate vital discussion about our shared past, present and future.
Leigh Dix from the exhibition’s organising committee and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (WA) and the exhibition’s special guest, Ms Yahata Teruko joined Bec Bowman on Artbeat.
Ms Yahata is an 87-year-old hibakusha (survivor of an atomic blast) who was an 8-year-old girl living in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing.
Ms Yahata has travelled from Japan to speak about her experience as a survivor at the Holmes à Court Gallery @ no.10 at 12pm Saturday 10 May:
There’s a variety of elements making up the program, with the main photo exhibition (a travelling exhibition from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museums in Japan) housed at Holmes a Court Gallery showing images and artifacts that have been preserved from the bombing.
There will also be real-life testimonials from survivors, telling their stories in their own words at a special event on May 10. The exhibition is the centrepiece of a series of events including guest lectures, a film program and free community events.
Local WA author Paul Grace is also involved with the exhibition, having written his first book Operation Hurricane: The story of Britain’s first atomic test and the legacy that remains about his family’s connection to atomic testing. His late grandfather, Flight Lieutenant Ron Grace, was a Dakota pilot who flew security patrols around the islands before the test and ‘coastal monitoring sorties’ (looking for fallout on the mainland) afterwards. When Grace began researching his grandfather’s role, he found that there were no full-length histories of Operation Hurricane written from an Australian perspective, while British accounts downplayed the dangers of radiation and excluded Australian participants.
West Australian local Bill Plewright served in Occupied Japan with HMAS Bataan in 1947-48 and visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He is also a veteran of the British nuclear testing program in Western Australia in 1952 and 1956. Bill will be sharing his experience of witnessing these two major atomic bomb events at a launch event on Saturday May 10.
