As part of the Cartoon Club, the City Museum hosts an exhibition entitled NAGASAKI BEYOND. War, peace and Buddhism.
Destruction after the atomic bomb: moving and sadly poetic shots by American war photographer Joe O'Donnell.
Photographs depicting the destruction of the city of Nagasaki immediately after the explosion of the nuclear bomb in 1945. In March 1946, O'Donnell returned to his homeland and was dismissed. Unable to see or show the tragic photos he took, he takes them home with him, puts them in a trunk and tries to forget. It was only in the 90s that he decided to share his photos with the world, in the hope that the mistakes of the past would not be repeated in the future.
Now his images travel the world as a warning to the consciences of individuals and nations.
About 100 photographs, where the most iconic and famous is certainly the one that portrays a child from Nagasaki with his little brother who died in the atomic bombing on his shoulder waiting for his turn to have him cremated. That same image was chosen in 2018 by Pope Francis to convey a renewed message of peace.
O'Donnell died on August 9, 2007, the same day as the bomb of Nagasaki, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 86 years old. The photos are now kept by the Buddhist association of Honmon-Butsuryu Shu (HBS) in Kioto, which grants them only on condition that the initiatives are aimed at promoting a Culture of Peace.
On Thursday 14 July at 5 pm, a guided tour of the exhibition will take place in the presence of Seijun Nagamatzu - curator of KJOTO HBS Museum.