At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945
The Little Boy who destroyed Hiroshima.
Seal this.

AuthorTatsuo Kawaguchi isFrom the 1960s to the present, he has consistently adopted the concept of "relationship" and produced numerous works that explore the relationship between "the visible" and "the invisible" and "existence."I am a contemporary artist.He has focused on the invisible flow of time, especially since the 1980s.He is known for his "sealing" works, such as encasing seeds in lead or wrapping lotus flowers in beeswax..

This book is based on the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, commonly known as "Little Boy."Tatsuo KawaguchiThis is an artist book.The book is published by Shigeru Yokota Gallery/Tokyo Publishing House, which has been continuously presenting new works since his first solo exhibition in 1983.Limited to 7 copiesThis is one of my books.

The work that inspired the creation of this book is Relationship - Lead Greenhouse, Dandelion of Hiroshima, which was created with the theme of "Hiroshima" in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. Of the 61 works that were created while facing "Hiroshima," 19 works, including unpublished drawings, were selected and bound in full size to create this artist's book.The binding was done by bookbinder Ohira Tatsuko.The binding, which is held together by just two rivets, resembles the tacks that hold the cold iron frame of the Little Boy in place. The bumpy, thick paper on the cover is also the same color as rusted iron.This product embodies Tatsuo Kawaguchi's concept with a high level of purity.

The first three pages after turning over the cover contain a sentence written by Kawaguchi himself titled "Little Boy - to bring back the original meaning of the word," followed by the latitude and longitude of the hypocenter, and the hands of a clock frozen at 8:15. The following pages contain various illustrations that seal Little Boy.CalmlyThe next configuration is:

At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima.It took the lives of tens of thousands of people and burned down the city in an instant. It took just a few years to develop the first atomic bomb in human history, and it was only a few weeks from the first test to its actual use in war.Even now, 77 years later, war has not ended and humanity continues to confront this issue.

This book isKawaguchi Tatsuo's intentions are not made clear. It can be read as a silent antithesis to the false world peace in which nuclear weapons, which may be used again at any time, are hidden as if they do not exist, or as a silent record of resignation toward the root of violence that has been hidden since the beginning of the world. It is a book that evokes a variety of emotions depending on the reader.


Text by Osamu Kushida




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