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Athletics Arts & Culture Campus & Community People Research
Athletics Arts & Culture Campus & Community People Research

Questioning the Bomb

Poster Exhibition Takes on Nuclear Proliferation

Poster tn 230x200 Lannya Sommese
Lannya Sommese

A poster of a mushroom cloud made from the artist’s own blood. A joker in a gas mask juggling nuclear bombs. A fragile Japanese fan with singed folds.

These images are featured among more than 80 posters displayed at the Art Gallery this fall in “Questioning the Bomb.” The exhibition marks the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.

Professor James Thorpe ’73, M.F.A. ’76 partnered with colleagues at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Colorado State University, Fort Collins on the exhibit, in which selected poster designers worldwide were invited to submit work. He participated in a similar show 30 years ago to commemorate the 40th anniversary.

For Thorpe, the exhibition is about capturing the history of the atomic bomb and expanding the conversation on nuclear nonproliferation. He fears that over time, people have numbed themselves to the danger posed by these weapons.

“As a group, our creative and reflective conscience demands a visual translation of human history, society and culture,” he says, “especially in regard to the rapid affects of technology on our global psyche.”

ALAIN LE QUERNEC HIROSHIMA small David Tartakover The little boy got older small Elizabeth Resnick In Memory of the Children Hiroshima and Nagaski 1945 small Harry Pearce E28093 Its all our blood poster AW small Ivan Gazdov WHAT IS NUCLEAR WASTE small2 Questioning the Bomb History and Non Proliferation Invitational Poster Exhibition James Thorpe Main Poster Graphic small John Gravdahl ALARM small3 Kelsey Marotta Boom Kirsten O Loughlin Now I am Become Death small Kwang Su Kim Help Japan small Lance Rutter Pride meet vengeance small Marlena Buczek Smith Untitled small Parisa Tashakori Dont forget August 1945 Hiroshima Nagasaki small2 Risbeck Trinity small
Credit: Alain Le Quernec
Credit: David Tartakover
Credit: Elizabeth Resnick
Credit: Harry Pearce
Credit: Ivan Gazdov
Credit: James Thorpe
Credit: John Gravdahl
Credit: Kelsey Marotta
Credit: Kirsten O'Loughlin
Credit: Kwang-Su Kim
Credit: Lance Rutter
Credit: Marlena Buczek-Smith
Credit: Parisa Tashakori
Credit: Trinity Risbeck

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