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The controversy surrounding the Enola Gay exhibit stems from disagreements between the Smithsonian, historians, members of Congress, veterans, and those who were there for the event that shook the world. A script was written to point out the different phases that took place before the decision to drop the bomb and the aftermath of that decision. Michael Heyman, Secretary of the Smithsonian, had a vision of creating an exhibit that would inspire people to have more profound discussions about the atom bomb. The title links the work of the four artists with a daily occurrence that unites people across space and time during a period of ongoing global political conflict, humanitarian catastrophes, and the climate emergency.In 1995, the Enola Gay exhibit was intended to open for the 50th anniversary of the day the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Japan. The exhibition title Each Day Begins with the Sun Rising is drawn from the name of Fukuda’s installation, and it evokes the mundane yet awe-inspiring act of the sun rising. The Pomona research team also includes Phillip Choi (Physics), Nina Karnovsky (Biology), Tom Le (International Relations / Politics), and Rebecca McGrew (Art History, the Benton). This research was supported by EnviroLab Asia and the Henry Luce Foundation. Birds, Bombs, and Beauty began as a research undertaking that included a seminar course led by Kyoko Kurita (Japanese Literature) and a trip to Japan (unfortunately suspended due to the pandemic shutdown in March 2020). The exhibition is part of Birds, Bombs, and Beauty: An Interdisciplinary Study of Nature, Politics, and Culture Linking the Seto Inland Sea Region of Japan with Southern California, a years-long collaboration between Pomona College and HCU that focuses on climate justice, politics, and the visual arts and emphasizes scholarly engagement between students, faculty, and staff from Pomona and HCU. Fukuda, Furukata, and Isayama will join Pomona College as artists-in-residence, which will include artist talks, workshops with students, and performances.
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Each Day Begins with the Sun Rising marks the first time artists from HCU have exhibited in the United States. They were selected for the exhibition through an in-depth review process conducted by the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College in collaboration with HCU. Kou’s lush renderings of abundant vegetation reflect her close observations of the region and her intense engagement with the landscape.Īll of the artists are alumni of Hiroshima City University (HCU), and Furukata is also a professor there. Kana Kou’s richly detailed and massive multi-panel landscape drawings and installations frequently depict the Seto Inland Sea. Shot and presented in real time, Isayama’s single-channel video screen (2017) and the multi-channel video Objects (2017) portray porcelain objects disintegrating in an operatic arc of creation and destruction. Genki Isayama ’s artworks explore natural and dynamic processes such as decay and chemical reactions. The artwork alludes to the Enola Gay plane and its cargo-the atomic bomb, named Little Boy, that it dropped on Hiroshima. Taro Furukata’s installation The Mother and the Little Boy (2018) consists of a collection of items arranged on tables, including a photograph of Paul Tibbets, a vinyl disc of the song “Enola Gay” (by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), and fabric dyed by hand using food-based pigments and silkscreened with stars. In Megumi Fukuda’s installation Each Day Begins with the Sun Rising and Ends with the Sun Setting (2013–14), solar panels activate and illuminate discarded chairs, lamps, and television sets. T he artists in Each Day Begins with the Sun Rising use social activism, historical research, performance, site-specific installation, drawing, painting, and video to address politics and resilience in the region. The social and political ramifications of the bombings have permeated nearly every sector of Japanese society, particularly the Seto Inland Sea region, which is dealing with ongoing fallout from nuclear energy policies and environmental degradation. Together, they explore the profound cultural, political, and social impacts of the United States’ World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The exhibition Each Day Begins with the Sun Rising: Four Artists from Hiroshima features contemporary Japanese artists Megumi Fukuda, Taro Furukata, Genki Isayama, and Kana Kou.