Xi Mother and Child (母子像, Boshi-Zō, 1959)– the Hiroshima Panels by Maruki Toshi and Iri

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XI Mother and Child (母子像, Boshi-zō, 1959)– The Hiroshima Panels The Hiroshima Panels are a controversial series of 15 folding panels, each standing 1.8 meters x 7.2 meters, by the Japanese couple Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi. Each painting represents an aspect of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Maruki Iri and Toshi had seen the pain and suffering that haunted the victims personally as they lost their uncle, two young nieces due to the atomic bomb. Their younger sister suffered burns and their father died after six months; many of their friends perished as well. These paintings evolved into an activist project that gathered a lot international attention and eventually honoured Iri and Toshi with the prestigious Nobel peace prize. Maruki Toshi explains why they have created such a devastatingly beautiful series by saying “We do paint dark, cruel, painful scene, but the question is, how should we portray people who face such realities? We want to paint them beautifully”. They criticized America’s nuclear practice and victimized Japan. During the 1970’s, the Maurkis exhibited their work in the U.S. for the first time and this had affected their future murals greatly. Afterwards, they expanded their subject matter to the horrors of war in general rather than just atomic bombs i.e.“The Rape of Nanjing” in 1975. They related to Japanese culture strongly in their work, and I think it gives their work a very, peculiar aesthetic. They touch on subjects like the aftermath of war and honor the helpless victims of political violence. “Under the shattered structures amidst the excruciating flames. Parent left child, child left parent, Husband left wife, wife left husband. Nowhere to escape to. Figures fleeing in all directions. This was the Atomic Bomb. In the midst of this, how eerie-- Mothers' loving arms shielding their babies from death, dying

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