“city of 300,000
can we forget that silence?
in that stillness
the powerful appeal
of the white eye sockets of the wives and children who did not return home
that tore apart our hearts
can it be forgotten?!"
~ TŌGE Sankichi
can we forget that silence?
in that stillness
the powerful appeal
of the white eye sockets of the wives and children who did not return home
that tore apart our hearts
can it be forgotten?!"
~ TŌGE Sankichi
As often happens with the urge to create, first comes the creation, then the looking inward to find the awareness that provided the spark. My Japanese mother-in-law is the inspiration behind my affection for Asian design. But it’s Japanese poetry that provides the real “spark!” I turn to Asian poets for the names of my pieces. The ragged and torn papers used in my Hiroshima Series made me think of the burnt and torn skin the atomic bombs inflicted on the Japanese people. TŌGE Sankichi (1917-1953) was a Japanese poet, activist and survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The names of the four pieces in this series are taken from his poems translated by Karen Thornber for PBS.