Hiroshima Appeals 2021
Comment from Designer
For many years, I have made a living by conveying ideas to many people or “advertising.” I believe advertising is presenting a future that is brighter and more fun than today, even if only by a little. However, this time, I felt that the way to help create a more hopeful future is to convey to young people that the threat of nuclear weapons is not part of history, but a very real part of their lives, and, by doing so, ensure that the reality of nuclear weapons doesn’t fade from our minds, but stays etched in our hearts. As someone who works in visual expression, it is very sobering to be involved in the activities of the Hiroshima Appeals, which seeks to clearly inform the next generation of the existence of nuclear weapons amid the continued decline in the number of “kataribe” or people who experienced the atomic bombing.
This year’s poster uses augmented reality (AR). Inside the snow globe there is a white dove, the symbol of peace. Normally there would be white powder in the snow globe, but for this piece, we have black powder. If you place your phone over the photo, it starts to move,* as if time is working in reverse. Eventually, the dome is filled with the black powder, which may bring to mind the idea of peace being crushed by war, nuclear weapons, and “black rain,” etc., and create a real and gut-wrenching sense of war. Ultimately, the black powder falls slowly to the ground, at which point a completely motionless white dove appears.
Conventionally, I believe a snow globe is also a device for making each person viewing it imagine their own story as they watch the snow falling slowly down. My aim, in expressing this work in this way, is to encourage the younger generation, who no longer view nuclear weapons with a sense of reality, to take the time or even just a moment to think and imagine. If I could elaborate further, there is something I want people to notice as they look through the glass and take a bird’s-eye view of war and the atomic bombing – the white dove, trapped in the glass dome, has yet to fly free. I pray for the day when the white dove will be able to fly free in our world.
Takuya Onuki, Art Director
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; 2011 Susumu Endo; 2012 Yukimasa Okumura; 2013 Kaoru Kasai; 2014 Tsuguya Inoue; 2015 Taku Satoh; 2016 Takahisa Kamijyo; 2017 Kenya Hara; 2018 Kazunari Hattori; 2019 Katsuhiko Shibuya; 2020 Yoshie Watanabe; 2021 Takuya Onuki