ABSTRACT

This book explores the contemporary legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the passage of three quarters of a century, and the role of art and activism in maintaining a critical perspective on the dangers of the nuclear age.

It closely interrogates the political and cultural shifts that have accompanied the transition to a nuclearised world. Beginning with the contemporary socio-political and cultural interpretations of the impact and legacy of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the chapters examine the challenges posed by committed opponents in the cultural and activist fields to the ongoing development of nuclear weapons and the expanding industrial uses of nuclear power. It explores how the aphorism that "all art is political" is borne out in the close relation between art and activism. 

This multi-disciplinary approach to the socio-political and cultural exploration of nuclear energy in relation to Hiroshima/Nagasaki via the arts will be of interest to students and scholars of peace and conflict studies, social political and cultural studies, fine arts, and art and aesthetic studies.

chapter 1|24 pages

Introduction

The Raison D'être of the Arts in the Nuclear World

chapter 3|20 pages

Interrogating the Nuclear Industry, Local and Global

Tsushima Yūko's Post-3.11 Writing

chapter 6|36 pages

Hiroshima Museums

Atomic Artefacts on the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary

chapter 7|26 pages

Silence and Resilience

Commemorating Nagasaki Alongside the “Extraordinary Noise” of the Olympics and Under the Covid-19 “Mushroom Cloud”

chapter 8|18 pages

An Apocalypse through Australian Eyes

The Art and Objets Trouvés of Occupied Hiroshima

chapter 9|18 pages

Genbaku Legacy in Post-3.11 Japan

Ōta Yōko and Yoshida Chia

chapter 11|19 pages

Scientific Activism in the Nuclear Age

Atuhiro Sibatini and the Ranger Uranium Mine *

chapter 12|13 pages

Epilogue

Celebrating Nuclear Activism and the Power of the Individual