The Chicago Peace Museum

The Peace Museum in Chicago is hosting the very first Japanese government-sponsored exhibition in the US of artifacts and materials related to the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The exhibit opened on May 6th, and runs until August 14th, 2005, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan. The Peace Museum’s exhibition features 41 photos and photographic panels, video installments, and 23 objects - including a melted Christian cross removed from a Church obliterated by the nuclear blast. At the opening reception held on May 6th, 73-year-old A-bomb survivor Katsuji Yoshida, talked about having lived through the terror of the Nagasaki bombing. He was a thirteen year-old high school student when the bomb went off a half mile from where he stood outside his school. He was thrown some 130 feet into the air and received severe burns to his body… but by some miracle survived. Today, as a member of the Nagasaki Peace Promotion Association, Yoshida does all he can to deliver the message that “Humans must never be made into atomic bomb victims. I pray these peaceful skies go on forever.” The Chicago Peace Museum’s exhibit is sponsored the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Hall, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and the citizens of Japan. The museum is located at 100 N. Central Park Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60624. The exhibit is open 10 am to 4 pm. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 am to 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday. The exhibit moves to an undisclosed location in California after its run in Chicago, and I’ll be sure to announce the details when they are made public. For more information, visit the Chicago Peace Museum website. (posted by M.)

[ This article originally appeared on Mark Vallen’s web log:
www.art-for-a-change.com/blog ]