Akira MATSUMURA

"Evidence NAGASAKI"

photos: 49
Size: 259x265x13mm / hardcover
Price: 3800JPY+TAX
Release Date: May 2015

Evidence NAGASAKI

Up on a small hill, five hundred kilometers northeast of the city’s atomic bomb hypocenter, stands the Urakami Cathedral, which has kept the remains of the atomic explosion here and there in its front grounds. Four years ago I went there to see those remains. A statue of Jesus, a statue with no head and some others were standing in a row at a small place. On top of the stone wall below, stone busts of angels were placed side by side. Looking at them at close range, I saw their faces had cracks on them. One had its nose gone and another had most of its features below the eyebrow totally gone. Though weathered and spotted with moss and mold due to the long time that had passed since the atomic bomb, those figures still fully delivered the impact of the bomb. I was then struck by something their existence created, silent yet powerful. That experience led me to create this work.

Akira MATSUMURA