Hibakujumoku or Atomic-Bombed Trees

I saw this exhibit at the Harry Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri--a mini-road trip from Kansas City, and one well worth taking. The library was established to preserve the papers, books, and other historical materials relating to former President Harry S. Truman and to make them available to the people in a place suitable for exhibit and research, and it has undergone a refurbishment recently--you walk through American history in Truman's life time, and it is very well done. His house is seperate from the library, run by the Ntional Park service, and free, but you need reservations so attend to that before you go to the library.

For over a decade Katy McCormick has examined Japan's A-bombed landscapes in Nagasaki and Hiroshima--given that it was ultimately Truman's decision to drop these bombs on a civilian population, it is fitting that it be seen in his library. Her work portrays the survivor trees or hibakujumoku subjected to the first use of atomic bombs in 1945, signifying the vulnerability of life in the face of nuclear threats. Standing in school yards, temple grounds, and city squares, the A-bombed trees are living memorials, rooted among the ashes just below the surfaces of now-thriving cities. This is just a taste--this is a beautiful exhibit.