Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by. Today marks the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the first Atom bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing, which took place in 1945 was to bring a speedy end to the second world war against Japan. The anniversary is remembered through ceremonies, and leaders from Japan and around the world have used the occasion to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace.
It reminded me of this beautiful project from 2010 for an exhibition in London held on the 65th anniversary... (my apologies for the poor images - it is hard to photograph this piece well!)
THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha
THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha - was an exhibition which ran from the 5th August- 8th October at the Brunei Gallery at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2010.
The subject of the exhibitions is as follows: At 00.15am on the 6th August 2010 in London it will be 08.15am in Hiroshima and it will have been 65 years since ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima by the USA’s B-29 bomber ‘Enola Gay’. The exhibition of the 65 Hibakusha portrait paintings will last for 65 days, one for each year since the bombs were dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each painting will be accompanied by a detailed description of each subject’s haunting recollection of exactly how they came to survive and be found after the bombing.
Hibakusha are survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese word translates literally to “bomb affected people”. There are no names on any of the Hibakusha Portraits as is the tradition in Japan all are ‘subjects’ and always remain unnamed.
This beautiful poster/invitation/promotional piece was designed by Leah Harrison Bailey and Sara Carneholm at their studio called Happily Ever After, which sadly they disbanded in around 2014.
Below is the finished (folded up) piece which is A5 size:
- which then folds out like so...
To reveal the final piece...
The open size is 592x420mm. The job is printed on our beatifully thin and lightweight Offenbach Bible in 60gsm. It was printed and finished by Pureprint, who have produced this really well - not only the print but the very tricksy folding!
...and thanks to Leah and Sara for sending it to me and for the lovely note - yes, it certainly is a blogworthy piece! in fact, so good it's been on twice now!
https://www.soas.ac.uk/https://www.pureprint.com/Posted by Justin Hobson 06.08.2025
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