Lifetime Effects

Welcome to our installation, where we explore the medical effects of the atom bomb. We want to show that the deaths and injuries are not just numbers on paper, but that each one has its own characteristics.

When most remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the image of the mushroom cloud often comes to mind. However, this year we wanted to focus more on the victims' perspectives instead of the pilots'. We show how the atom bomb not only caused immense physical destruction and immediate suffering but that the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continued to suffer for years following the bombings.

We wanted to give the audience an idea that each of the medical effects that the hibakusha faced, their severity. We hope you think about how each hibakusha had to suffer the medical effects we showcase in our video. We wish that our exhibit helps people uncover the darkest side of the atom bomb, how thousands of people were diagnosed with medical conditions that would impact their lives forever. We aspire to emphasize that our responsibility should not be just to recognize these effects but to understand and make sure these events do not repeat again.

We will present the question, “Why is the story more important than the number?” All these medical effects led to lots of suffering for the hibakusha and their tragedy can’t just be summed up to numbers on a paper. Their pain deserves to be told, not simplified.

Hyun Jun Hong, Kai Taketani, Dylan Javeri

Piakdon video project (1).mp4

Collages

Sources

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Cancer survival rates (2020). Nuffield Trust. Retrieved 6 April 2021, from https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/cancer-survival-rates#background

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The medical effects of the Nagasaki atomic bomb (2021). Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University. Retrieved 16 April 2021, from https://www.genken.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/abomb/data/panf.pdf

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