At a recent exhibition held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, I was struck by three unique examples of collaborations toward the creation of a nuclear-free world.
The Permanent Missions of Japan and Kazakhstan cosponsored an exhibition titled “Against Nuclear Arms.” Initially, I didn’t know what the two countries had in common but I learned that in fact, people of both Japan and Kazakhstan suffered greatly from nuclear weapons. As many are aware, Japan recently commemorated the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Kazakhstan will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first nuclear testing conducted by the Soviet Union 150 km west of the town of Semipalatinsk at a nuclear test site referred to as the Semipalatinsk Polygon, on August 29, 1949. Learning that Japan and Kazakhstan organized this exhibition for the “common cause of ending nuclear devastation,” I felt that this was a good example of governments collaborating toward a common cause.
Viewing the exhibition panels, I also found another example of an inspirational collaboration. In 1989, concerned Kazakh citizens of Nevada-Semipalatinsk, an international anti-nuclear movement, successfully appealed for the close-down of the nuclear testing facility in Kazakhstan. The movement was inspired by protests by their American counterparts at the Nevada Test Site in the U.S. This historic achievement taught me about the strength of people working together toward nuclear disarmament.
Unlike the first and second examples, the third is a collaboration between two individuals. Masaru Tanaka, a second generation Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor who specializes in photography and video art, collaborated with artist Betsie Miller-Kusz, the daughter of a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project in 1945. Together they created computer-generated collage they titled Peace’s New Century. An example of their artwork is a photograph of Pearl Harbor with an overlay rendering of a paper crane that blends and merges together with the photography. I felt that the collaborative art of Tanaka and Miller-Kusz emanates a powerful message from two individuals who have conquered deep divides to work together toward the creation of a nuclear-free world.
Name: Emily
Age: 27
Gender: Female