Hiroshima Appeals 2010
Comment from Designer
It’s been 40 years since I and Seitaro Kuroda have established the design office K2, taking the initials from our names. Both of us being 71 years old this year, I am amazed to know how long we’ve been working together. I think we are the last generation of Japanese with the memory of the World War II, experiencing the war just before entering the elementary school. It is about time that we pass our war stories to the younger generations. Kuroda has established the project “A Story We Must Not Forget” 20 years ago and has continuously been sending messages of love and peace to the world through picture books, essays, TV programs and animations based on Akiyuki Nosaka’s “Collection of War Stories for Children” and through “Live Painting” performances. I consider this poster “MAD DOG” as an extension of such activities. Using a poster as a media, as I have always been, I would like to send the message of love and peace to the world.
Hiroshima Appeals Poster Campaign
In 1983, the Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA) and the Hiroshima International Cultural Foundation announced their collaboration on a project focusing on the theme “Hiroshima’s Spirit” and launched a poster campaign with the goal of promoting peace at home and abroad. The first poster, entitled “Burning Butterflies”, was created by Yusaku Kamekura, the president of JAGDA at the time. Designers affiliated with JAGDA produce one poster each year.
The posters are sold to the general public and exhibited in a nationwide tour called the “Peace Poster Exhibition”. Posters in the series have engaged citizens around the world, displayed in the Atomic Bomb Exhibition preceding to the historic 1985 Geneva Summit, and the exhibition entitled “Hiroshima: A Message for Peace among People” held in Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, and Aosta in Italy in 1997. The 2008 poster was sent to several member cities whose mayors are members of the international group Mayors for Peace. The “Hiroshima Appeals” project, conducted annually from 1983 till 1991, was reinstated in 2005 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Designers: 1983 Yusaku Kamekura; 1984 Kiyoshi Awazu; 1985 Shigeo Fukuda; 1986 Yoshio Hayakawa; 1987 Kazumasa Nagai; 1988 Ikko Tanaka; 1989 Mitsuo Katsui; 1990 Eiko Ishioka; 2005 Masayoshi Nakajo; 2006 Koichi Sato; 2007 Shin Matsunaga; 2008 Masuteru Aoba; 2009 Katsumi Asaba; 2010 Keisuke Nagatomo