the 'Putting the Mo in Moc' project
Essential question: |
As students of Mark Oliphant College how can we acknowledge the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima?
|
task one : lantern installation
The floating lantern ceremony is the first source of inspiration for our 'Putting the MO in MOC' Project. Every year people from around the world create personalised lanterns reflecting on the moment when the bomb hit and how in that moment everything changed. The festival isn't about blame...it's about remembering. Whether you agree or disagree with what happened the people of Hiroshima suffered in horrifying ways.
You as a historian (in history) will research the events leading up to the dropping of the bomb and as poets (in English) write haiku poems reflecting on the moments just before and just after the bomb hit. Then as an artist (in Visual Art) create your own lantern reflecting all you have learnt. The lantern you create will be placed with the others to create a installation piece that will be presented as the final part of the drama performance.
More information for you to read about the lantern festival is below and the steps of how to create the lantern are also on this page further down.
You as a historian (in history) will research the events leading up to the dropping of the bomb and as poets (in English) write haiku poems reflecting on the moments just before and just after the bomb hit. Then as an artist (in Visual Art) create your own lantern reflecting all you have learnt. The lantern you create will be placed with the others to create a installation piece that will be presented as the final part of the drama performance.
More information for you to read about the lantern festival is below and the steps of how to create the lantern are also on this page further down.
THE HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL CEREMONY & FLOATING LANTERN CEREMONY.
|
“In the evening, there is a lantern festival, where over 10,000 lanterns are put into the water next to the A-bomb memorial and across the river from the steps in front of the information center. The evening activities are less formal, there are no long speeches, but it is a very powerful experience. As the light from the dome shines down on the water lit by the many colorful lanterns floating downstream. There are also candles decorated by children lit and displayed all the way around the Atomic bomb memorial building. ” - Japantourist.jp accessed 23.3.2015 https://vforvacay.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/peace-lantern-festival-in-hiroshima/
|
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony is held each year on August 6th, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Some 50,000 local citizens and visitors, as well as ambassadors and dignitaries from around 70 countries, gather here to console the spirits of those killed by the atomic bomb and also to pray for lasting world peace.
Held virtually every year since 1947, just two years after the atomic bomb was dropped, this ceremony features speeches with entreaties for peace from the Prime Minister of Japan, the Mayor of Hiroshima and other noteworthy figures. At 8:15 on the morning of August 6th, marking the exact moment when the atomic bomb was dropped, bells ring out at temples, sirens wail throughout the city and the citizens of Hiroshima observe a solemn moment of silence in remembrance.
Remembering the 140,000 irreplaceable human lives that were lost, either on the day of the bombing or in the ensuing months, and the numerous atomic bomb survivors who still suffer from its aftereffects even to this day, one cannot help but be left with a strong sense of the horrors of nuclear weapons and a strong hope for world peace in one's heart.
Additionally, the "Peace Message Lantern Floating Ceremony" is also held on the evening of August 6th. Anyone is welcome to write messages of peace on the lanterns, which will be set afloat down the Motoyasu River, where they will pass directly in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome.
The experience of watching the warm lights of some 10,000 lanterns as they float tranquilly down the river in the dark of night, each bearing wishes for peace from the gathered attendees, has a powerful, almost other-worldly quality. The participants in this event include not only Hiroshima locals, but also many visitors who come from far and wide.
accessed 23/3/2015 http://visithiroshima.net/things_to_do/seasonal_events/summer/hiroshima_peace_memorial_ceremony_peace_message_lantern_floating_ceremony.html
Held virtually every year since 1947, just two years after the atomic bomb was dropped, this ceremony features speeches with entreaties for peace from the Prime Minister of Japan, the Mayor of Hiroshima and other noteworthy figures. At 8:15 on the morning of August 6th, marking the exact moment when the atomic bomb was dropped, bells ring out at temples, sirens wail throughout the city and the citizens of Hiroshima observe a solemn moment of silence in remembrance.
Remembering the 140,000 irreplaceable human lives that were lost, either on the day of the bombing or in the ensuing months, and the numerous atomic bomb survivors who still suffer from its aftereffects even to this day, one cannot help but be left with a strong sense of the horrors of nuclear weapons and a strong hope for world peace in one's heart.
Additionally, the "Peace Message Lantern Floating Ceremony" is also held on the evening of August 6th. Anyone is welcome to write messages of peace on the lanterns, which will be set afloat down the Motoyasu River, where they will pass directly in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome.
The experience of watching the warm lights of some 10,000 lanterns as they float tranquilly down the river in the dark of night, each bearing wishes for peace from the gathered attendees, has a powerful, almost other-worldly quality. The participants in this event include not only Hiroshima locals, but also many visitors who come from far and wide.
accessed 23/3/2015 http://visithiroshima.net/things_to_do/seasonal_events/summer/hiroshima_peace_memorial_ceremony_peace_message_lantern_floating_ceremony.html
|
barefoot gen:
|
"This part of this project is to reflect on that moment when the bomb hit. You will read a section from the graphic novel 'Barefoot Gen' which is a autobiographical story of the bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath, seen through the eyes of the artist as a young boy growing up in Japan. The artist is Keiji Nakazawa who lives in Tokyo and is now retired from cartooning but is working on films about postwar Hiroshima.
Nakazawa's life-work, 'Barefoot Gen' (1972) was the first Japanese comic ever to be translated into western languages. Dealing with the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima, the comic is very intense, and when the first English translation of 'Barefoot Gen' came out in America, there were many complaints that the effects of the bomb were depicted too graphically. These complaints weren't about a picture of the actual bomb exploding, but more about what the bomb did to people and their lives. Although the complaining Americans might suggest otherwise, this comic does not blame anyone - it is a scathing attack on injustice, militarism and war itself.
'Barefoot Gen' was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama, and has been translated in over 10 languages, including English, Russian, and Korean. The author retired in September 2009 due to citing deteriorating diabetes and failing eyesight, thus cancelling his plans for a sequel. Keiji Nakazawa passed away in December 2012, after having been suffering from lung cancer since September 2010." 'Barefoot Gen' was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama, and has been translated in over 10 languages, including English, Russian, and Korean. The author retired in September 2009 due to citing deteriorating diabetes and failing eyesight, thus cancelling his plans for a sequel. Keiji Nakazawa passed away in December 2012, after having been suffering from lung cancer since September 2010.
Nakazawa's life-work, 'Barefoot Gen' (1972) was the first Japanese comic ever to be translated into western languages. Dealing with the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima, the comic is very intense, and when the first English translation of 'Barefoot Gen' came out in America, there were many complaints that the effects of the bomb were depicted too graphically. These complaints weren't about a picture of the actual bomb exploding, but more about what the bomb did to people and their lives. Although the complaining Americans might suggest otherwise, this comic does not blame anyone - it is a scathing attack on injustice, militarism and war itself.
'Barefoot Gen' was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama, and has been translated in over 10 languages, including English, Russian, and Korean. The author retired in September 2009 due to citing deteriorating diabetes and failing eyesight, thus cancelling his plans for a sequel. Keiji Nakazawa passed away in December 2012, after having been suffering from lung cancer since September 2010." 'Barefoot Gen' was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama, and has been translated in over 10 languages, including English, Russian, and Korean. The author retired in September 2009 due to citing deteriorating diabetes and failing eyesight, thus cancelling his plans for a sequel. Keiji Nakazawa passed away in December 2012, after having been suffering from lung cancer since September 2010.
"Keiji Nakazawa was born in Hiroshima and was in the city when it was destroyed by a nuclear weapon in 1945. He settled in Tokyo in 1961 to become a cartoonist. He produced his first manga for anthologies like Shonen Gaho, Shonen King, and Bokura. By 1966, Nakazawa began to express his memories of Hiroshima in his manga, starting with the fictional 'Kuroi Ame ni Utarete' ('Struck by Black Rain') and the autobiographical story 'Ore wa Mita' ('I Saw It').
Nakazawa's life-work, 'Barefoot Gen' (1972) was the first Japanese comic ever to be translated into western languages. Dealing with the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima, the comic is very intense, and when the first English translation of 'Barefoot Gen' came out in America, there were many complaints that the effects of the bomb were depicted too graphically. These complaints weren't about a picture of the actual bomb exploding, but more about what the bomb did to people and their lives. Although the complaining Americans might suggest otherwise, this comic does not blame anyone - it is a scathing attack on injustice, militarism and war itself.
'Barefoot Gen' was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama, and has been translated in over 10 languages, including English, Russian, and Korean. The author retired in September 2009 due to citing deteriorating diabetes and failing eyesight, thus cancelling his plans for a sequel. Keiji Nakazawa passed away in December 2012, after having been suffering from lung cancer since September 2010." accessed at https://www.lambiek.net/artists/n/nakazawa.htm on 3/5/2015 https://www.lambiek.net/artists/n/nakazawa.htm
Nakazawa's life-work, 'Barefoot Gen' (1972) was the first Japanese comic ever to be translated into western languages. Dealing with the nuclear holocaust in Hiroshima, the comic is very intense, and when the first English translation of 'Barefoot Gen' came out in America, there were many complaints that the effects of the bomb were depicted too graphically. These complaints weren't about a picture of the actual bomb exploding, but more about what the bomb did to people and their lives. Although the complaining Americans might suggest otherwise, this comic does not blame anyone - it is a scathing attack on injustice, militarism and war itself.
'Barefoot Gen' was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama, and has been translated in over 10 languages, including English, Russian, and Korean. The author retired in September 2009 due to citing deteriorating diabetes and failing eyesight, thus cancelling his plans for a sequel. Keiji Nakazawa passed away in December 2012, after having been suffering from lung cancer since September 2010." accessed at https://www.lambiek.net/artists/n/nakazawa.htm on 3/5/2015 https://www.lambiek.net/artists/n/nakazawa.htm
this movie is confronting...you don't have to watch
mural panel one
trinity: a graphic history of the fisrt atomic bomb
by jonathon fetter-vorm
http://www.fetter-vorm.com/trinity/
"Trinity, the debut graphic book by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, depicts the dramatic history of the race to build and the decision to drop the first atomic bomb in World War Two. This sweeping historical narrative traces the spark of invention from the laboratories of nineteenth-century Europe to the massive industrial and scientific efforts of the Manhattan Project, and even transports the reader into a nuclear reaction—into the splitting atoms themselves.
The power of the atom was harnessed in a top-secret government compound in Los Alamos, New Mexico, by a group of brilliant scientists led by the enigmatic wunderkind J. Robert Oppenheimer. Focused from the start on the monumentally difficult task of building an atomic weapon, these men and women soon began to wrestle with the moral implications of actually succeeding. When they detonated the first bomb at a test site code-named Trinity, they recognized that they had irreversibly thrust the world into a new and terrifying age." accessed http://www.fetter-vorm.com/trinity/ on 3/5/2015
“Trinity illuminates a turning-point in human history, and does so with admirable pace, grace, and skill.” —Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing“Succeeds as both a graphic primer and a philosophical meditation.” --Kirkus (starred review) accessed http://www.fetter-vorm.com/trinity/ on 3/5/2015
The power of the atom was harnessed in a top-secret government compound in Los Alamos, New Mexico, by a group of brilliant scientists led by the enigmatic wunderkind J. Robert Oppenheimer. Focused from the start on the monumentally difficult task of building an atomic weapon, these men and women soon began to wrestle with the moral implications of actually succeeding. When they detonated the first bomb at a test site code-named Trinity, they recognized that they had irreversibly thrust the world into a new and terrifying age." accessed http://www.fetter-vorm.com/trinity/ on 3/5/2015
“Trinity illuminates a turning-point in human history, and does so with admirable pace, grace, and skill.” —Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing“Succeeds as both a graphic primer and a philosophical meditation.” --Kirkus (starred review) accessed http://www.fetter-vorm.com/trinity/ on 3/5/2015
Jonathan Fetter - Vorm's website: http://www.fetter-vorm.com/
mural panel two
japanese ink painting
'A journey from Hiroshima' are massive murals of "hell" painted by Iri and Toshi Maruki. These collaborative pieces deal with subjects rarely addressed in the world of art. Human figures tangled with arms out. These dreadful cruel scenes are painting with kindness.
instructions on how to make the lantern
how to make the frame of the lanterns
lantern design and artwork
research
conceptual design
colouring design with chalk pastel and pentel ink pens
learning how to paint using traditional japanese techniques
creating mural one : that moment
creating mural two : the science
creating mural three : the reflection wall
