Title: I Ghosts (first of the series, Hiroshima Panels)
Creator: Maruki Iri, Maruki Toshi
Date: 1950
Period: Post-WWII US Occupation of Japan
Location: Tokyo
Culture: Japanese
Material: Sumi ink, charcoal or conté on paper
Dimensions: 180 x 720 cm
Repository: Maruki Gallery, https://marukigallery.jp/en/hiroshimapanels/
Description: “Ghosts” is the harrowing portrayal of the aftermath of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. The charcoal depiction is a massive, seven meter-long view of the suffering and annihilation following the bombing that forever scarred Japan, and the world. Individual people are barely visible as the cloud of blackness of the painting overwhelms the audience, accentuating the fact that the bomb did not discriminate between anyone – soldier or civilian, man or women, adult of child. The explosion stripped everybody of their humanity, a feature which the artists highlight as they portray everybody naked and crying out for their loved ones, stripped of everything including their lives. The naked, largely hairless, collection of humans and skeletons of recently deceased people resembles a group of ghosts.
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